The Kawaridane
by nekomiko17
Summary: Set after both Inuyasha and Yu Yu Hakusho's stories finished. Some manipulations done. Not for the narrow minded. HieiOC Plz read and review! Also up on Mediaminer under my other name: Alena. So not a copy.
1. Prologue

**AN: Hello this is my second attempt at fanfiction but my first attempt at IY/YYH crossover. I do not own these characters… although Ayako is all mine. I just like to manipulate them for my own selfish means.**

The screams were everywhere. I could barely hear myself think.

It happened so quickly and at the worst possible moment. My lady had just given birth to the first child when the siege struck.

All the castle staff knew of the hostile Nikushimi, but never believed for a second that he would make even a scratch on the outer wall.

I was cradling little baby Kagome in my arms when a loud explosion struck the castle and the walls shuddered.

My lord ran swiftly from the room grabbing his staff, Karite, as he left. I could hear the distant shouts of battle and the clashing of swords with teeth and claws.

My lady's labour pains were getting quicker and we all knew the second baby was coming. With one final triumphant push baby Ayako came into the world and quicker than can be imagined my lady shoved her towards me as she got up to assist her mate.

"My lady! You mustn't move! You have just given birth to twins; you are in no shape to fight!" I shouted after her.

"I'm alright Nezumi. You must hurry and hide my girls away! You know they come only for them!" she walked over to me slowly, "I am trusting you with their lives, please keep them safe from the Karyuudo." She whispered to me, and with that was gone from the room.

I got up slowly looking at the other nurses around me. They all looked terrified.

"Go, run from this place or you will surely be slain." I said, very calmly. I didn't sound at all like myself but I didn't wait around for their reaction either.

I hurriedly ran from the room down the servants passages to the basement where I knew there was a passage that led outside the castle walls.

I passed many wounded and dead but I could not stop to help them. My lady had trusted in **ME** to keep the babies safe, and I wasn't about to let her down. I found the doorway to the passage and I had to briefly set down the girls in order to shove open the rarely used door.

Once the passage was open to me I gathered them up again and ran as hard as I could through the dark passageway. My heart was pounding in my chest, the blood roaring in my ears as I reached the hatch that led to the forest beyond the walls. This one I knew was locked magically and thus a racked my brain for the chant designed to open it.

At last it came to me and with a few quick words I was up and out and running through the trees.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Nikushimi burst through the doors of the nursery, his eyes blazing red.

He held in his hand his biggest prize the Karite, which he had peeled from the dead Lord's fist. But something deeper was disturbing him. One of his subordinates informed him that the castle had been searched from top to bottom but the Kawaridane were nowhere to be found.

'That lying bitch! She told me her babies had both been stillborn and were being entombed in the family shrine.' His men had searched that as well and found nothing.

A scent caught his attention and he stormed over to the far side of the room. 'Yes, that is definitely the smell of newborn and it goes off… that way' He looked toward a hatch in the floor. A servant's passage no doubt.

"YOU!" he shouted at a cowering figure in the corner. "Where does this lead to?"

"M-m-my l-lord?" the servant stammered, obviously not knowing what he was referring to.

"This hatch in the floor you imbecile! WHERE?" he screamed with obvious impatience.

"T-to a passage… outside th-th-the wall my lord." she managed to reply, and her words caused a frenzy.

Nikushimi turned to his men and said in an almost inaudible voice that dripped poison in each word.

"Find them."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The leaves were whipping her face and the roots of trees kept reaching up to trip her. The air was burning in her lungs and the sweat poured from her face.

I could smell them. They were chasing me and they would catch up before long. I knew my endurance was poor but I thought I could at least out run them to the well. At the current rate, I was not so sure I'd make it.

My only hope after feeling my Lord and my Lady's energy vanish was to hide the children. I had heard of a well that absorbs things that are tossed into its depths. I did not know where they would go but I knew for sure that if I left them anywhere in this world they would be found and killed without mercy.

The Karyuudo didn't believe in mercy for the daughters of fate.

Time passed. I'm not sure how much but my sight was beginning to blur and I was falling much more now than before. My shoulders were raw from taking the blows of the ground while protecting the infants I held in my arms. I could smell my pursuer's blood lust. They were very close. And then I saw it.

The Bone eaters well.

I stumbled to a stop at its edge and used the last of my strength to hop to the bottom. I placed the girls on the dirt floor and used the last of my magic to hide their presence from detection.

Slowly, I climbed the walls of the well out into the cold night air once again. I collapsed with my back to the well and looked up at the full moon. The words of the prophecy flashed through my mind as I lost consciousness.

"_On a cold clear night, with a full shining orb overhead, their will be born two daughters of fate, whom are neither human nor demon and will seek the destruction of all that is known to claim their birthright, and the Makai will forever be changed."_

I awoke to someone shaking me roughly.

"Oi Bitch! Where the hell are the Kawaridane!?" Shouted some pig faced creature with horrid breath.

"Hnn… where you will never find them. You poor excuse for a demon." I whispered with the last of my breath. I felt him strike me across the face, and I left this world behind me.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

She took a deep breath in. She could hear the sounds of the city far off in the distance, and shook her head slowly. 'What is our world coming to when you can no longer enjoy the peace of a cold clear night without the sounds of "progress" wafting to your ears from the greedy blind people living in the valley below'.

The times of miko like herself were in short supply. No one came to find the peace of nature anymore. Not with the new god "Money" and its consort "Progress" at the forefront of most people's minds.

She took another deep breath and this time, something piqued her other senses. The senses that told her of a person's aura, and potential for holy powers. Only this sort of feeling had not been described in the order for centuries.

It had the hint of demon energy.

She followed the energy and found herself at the doors to the old well house. No one had been in there since the building was erected over 50 years ago. The building was put in place because it was said that the well was a portal that received items, usually bones from another dimension, another time, no one knew for certain.

She slid open the doors more easily than she should have been able to. Her curiosity was beginning to take over. She slowly descended the steps and peered down into the well holding her candle high to see more clearly. What she saw shocked her more than could be imagined.

There she saw two small newborn babies, wrapped in blankets and sleeping peacefully.

She did the only thing she could think of. She climbed down and brought them up and out, one at a time. Once they were in her arms she noticed something definitely strange about their energy. It seemed to be in great turmoil and so she focused harder to find the source of this conflict.

When the realization hit her she almost dropped them to the floor. Half their aura came from holy energy and the other half was some form of demon energy.

She swallowed hard as a scroll flashed through her mind of a type of hanyou called the Kawaridane.

The Kawaridane was said to be the subject of ancient turmoil when a travelling monk had wed the Lady of the North, who happened to be a taiyoukai cat demon. The birth of twin "daughters of fate" were written about and said to have been slain when Nikushimi besieged and conquered the Lady of the North to become the new lord of the North.

She looked down at the twins in her arms.

'Well, I guess the scrolls are incorrect.' She turned and slowly walked from the well house like a woman possessed. She reached the door to the main temple and pushed it open slowly.

"Rui-sama! You've been gone a long time I was about to send out the search party!" came a small amused voice from the far end of the room.

She looked up at the young miko apprentice Shikari, as she walked toward the fire.

She managed a slight smile and in a voice that did not sound like her own she said "Shikari, will you please get me my personal scrolls and bring them to me quickly."

She looked confused but quickly obeyed the request. 'I have to do something about this energy!' She was beginning to panic. If these two really are the Kawaridane of ancient history there would be some very hostile people after them if they were discovered.

Shikari had returned with my scrolls. She thanked her and asked her to go fix up some tea as to keep her away form what she was about to do. Once Shikari had left the room she found the scroll she was searching for. She ran through what she had been taught of this special type of hanyou. She remembered that they would grow only to the point of a toddler in the first 150 years!

'Alright so I need to think of how we are to keep them secret until their growth spurt.' She also knew that after that early stage was done they would grow to adulthood at a rate similar to a human and reach full maturity by the time they were 171. Or 21 by human terms.

She turned toward the two babies lying on the floor and began to chant the spell that would seal away their demon energy until adulthood. She would think of what to do with them for the next 150 years after that task had been completed.

'Rui, what have you gotten yourself into?'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

_150 years later_…

Genkai awoke to a very disturbing noise. She swore under her breath as she walked out of her small bedroom and towards the main room of her house where the mysterious sound was coming from.

She rolled her knuckles in her eyes and paused. It wasn't such a strange noise after all, only one she hadn't heard since she shut herself away in the mountain compound thirty years earlier.

It sounded like a child crying.

She stumbled to the front door and opened it to find a little girl with brown curly hair and bright green eyes staring up at her. In her arms were what looked to be her few worldly possessions. A stuffed white leopard and a hand-quilted blanket with the name, AYAKO, written across it in bold lettering. She held in her other hand what looked like a note. It read:

Master Genkai,

Please find it in your heart to raise little Ayako. She has gone through more hardship than one should with a life as short as hers.

'That's it??' she thought. She considered very seriously simply closing the door, or maybe hunting down whoever had left her here and beating said trouble-maker to a pulp.

She looked down at the frightened child and sighed. Her life was about to get a lot more complicated.

Across the bustling city of Tokyo in the year 1986 Mrs. Higurashi awoke to much the same scene as Genkai. Except in this case there was a little girl with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes looking up at her with a hand-quilted blanket with the name, KAGOME, written in bold lettering.

There was no hesitation and Kagome was instantly received by the young woman and her husband.

They knew not of what they were getting into.


	2. Waiting for the visitors

**AN: Alright! Chpt one, here we come! **

_Twenty years later…_

Ayako stood on the deck of the main house in Genkai's compound, and took a deep breath of the late fall air. She could feel the coming of winter in her bones and she absolutely adored the feeling. Perhaps that was why she decided to choose the date of her birth as December.

Genkai had told her that she was left on the doorstep of the temple with a simple note. When she became old enough to choose Genkai had allowed her to pick her birthday. It was a little strange but Ayako was glad for the chance to choose for herself.

She had decided on December the fifth. It was as good as any and it was on the brink of her favourite season.

She was so deep in thought that she missed the emergence of company.

"Pondering your future love?" came a sarcastic voice from behind her. Ayako jumped a little, in surprise.

"Shizuru," she turned to face her older friend, "tell me you're not out here to kill your lungs with those cancer sticks."

"Hah! Sorry hun, I can't tell you that." She smirked as she lit up.

"I can't believe Kurama still lets you do that. Your time together is short as is; you don't need to cut that in half with something as ridiculous as smoking." Ayako scolded with a scowl on her face.

"Let's just say Kurama knows he can't make me do or not do anything. Besides I'm quitting. This is only the second one I've had today." She stuck her tongue out at her skinny friend.

"Hmmph…" Ayako grumbled.

"So really, what are you doing out here?" Shizuru asked "the guests are getting restless and Genkai is looking for you."

"I know I know… I was just getting a breather. It's hard being around a flirty prince of the underworld, a disconcerting green eyed kitsune, and an irritable fire demon who doesn't even acknowledge my presence. Not to mention the over protective Spirit Detective. I like Kuwabara though. He's a sweet heart." She rambled.

"HAhaha!" Shizuru laughed heartily, "well that's a perfect description of each and everyone of 'em! Except Kazuma. You remember him before Yukina? He was a big goof who blushed even if you spoke to him!"

Ayako smiled, "Yeah but he quickly lost interest the minute he met Botan, and then he completely forgot Botan for Yukina." She laughed. "Although I think Yukina is finally starting to warm up to him. I swear that girl is more clueless than me about the opposite sex!"

Shizuru glanced over at the petite protégé of Genkai. She couldn't believe this girl had grown up fairly well adjusted for having that grumpy old lady as a "mother".

If she didn't know better she could have sworn there was genetic resemblance between them. Genkai came up to her belly button and Ayako was barely taller.

However it was quite entertaining to see stray demons mistake her size for weakness. Her abilities as a miko had been present since birth, and living with Genkai meant she would be trained in them to the best of her ability, and her ability was very great.

Shizuru saw first hand a demon that came into contact with her purification blast. There was nothing left of the misguided creature to shake a finger at.

But looking at her now you wouldn't have thought she was one of the most powerful miko alive.

Right now she looked small and exhausted, and preoccupied with something.

"So what's up kiddo?" Shizuru questioned her friend, "You seem… distracted."

Ayako sighed. "Have you heard about the guests who are supposed to show up today?" Shizuru nodded and Ayako continued. "Well… you see… I've been having these, premonitions, feelings… I don't know, but whatever it is I have a very strong feeling it's about the two who are coming today."

Shizuru frowned. "What kinds of things are you, feeling or seeing?"

"It feels as though my soul is calling out, but getting no answer, and I keep seeing a face. An older face that I cannot identify." Ayako's shoulders slumped. "I hate not knowing is all."

"Well some findings are more fruitful when the entire process is a mystery." Shizuru replied.

Ayako's eyebrows rose almost to her hairline as she gave her friend a very strange look.

"Shut up! I can be philosophical occasionally!" Shizuru huffed indignantly.

"Hahaha, well maybe you should leave the philosophizing to Kurama from now on." Ayako smiled up at her friend.

"Oh shut up runt. Get inside before Genkai skins us both for ditching on her." Shizuru shook her head as she followed her friend inside the main house.

Ayako glanced around the crowded living room at her closest friends.

Keiko, Botan and Yukina were sitting in the corner at the table playing a game of "Go Fish", Genkai and Yusuke were deeply involved in a particularly violent looking video game, Kuwabara, Koenma and Kurama were deep in conversation and Hiei sat in the window looking absolutely bored out of his tree.

Upon seeing the re-emergence of Shizuru, Kurama perked up and beckoned her over to where he was standing.

Ayako watched her go and embrace the beautiful kitsune, and she sighed. 'Why can't I have a gorgeous green-eyed fox demon for a boyfriend?' she shook her head, 'some girls have all the luck.'

'No no everyone, don't get up, or turn, or acknowledge my presence at all, it's just little Ayako, one of the most powerful miko in history, you see her everyday' she chuckled to herself. Leave it to her friends to take her down a peg every once in awhile.

She decided her time in waiting could be well spent playing cards, so she strode across the room to join the other girls.

Unbeknownst to Ayako, she was definitely being observed. Hiei noticed the moment she re-entered the room from her scent alone. Hiei shook his head. Why should he be thinking about that tiny ningen's scent? She was one in the pool of many useless humans he hung around with these days.

Ok. That's not entirely true.

None of these particular human females were totally useless. That annoying onna definitely ranked directly next to Genkai at the top for power. Which shouldn't come as a surprise combining her natural power and the training she's received over the short couple of decades she's lived.

'Am I complimenting the tiny half-starved creature now?' He made a face at his own thoughts. Of course not.

He glanced over at the table where her and the ferry girl, Yusuke's onna and Yukina, were playing some strange game with small cards.

He watched her bright green eyes flash with amusement at something the ferry girl said and then observed her as she smiled broadly, her simple beauty seemed to light up the room, and then she looked up at him!

He quickly looked away. 'Oh shit, now I've been caught staring like a love sick Kuwabara! What is wrong with you Hiei? It's not even close to our mating season and you're acting like a dog in heat!"

He glanced back at her and saw a slight blush rising on her cheeks.

"Oh hell," he mumbled under his breath.

"Something wrong Hiei?" came a silky voice to his right.

"Shut up fox, or I will shove my katana so far up your ass your eyes will bulge out." He replied angrily.

"Now now, no need to get violent, I wasn't implying anything." Kurama said with amusement dancing on his face.

"Hn, and Koenma loves it when you call him toddler." Came the quick reply.

Kurama laughed out loud, and drew a couple eyes in their direction. Hiei scowled and they looked away.

"Alright, so I may have caught you mooning over our local miko." Kurama smiled at his hot-tempered friend.

"I wouldn't condescend to waste my time "mooning" over worthless ningen, Kurama." Hiei snorted.

"Oh come now, you can lie to me but you can't lie to yourself! You think Ayako no more useless than myself." Kurama looked at his short friend.

"Hah! And what makes you think I believe you are useful, fox!" Hiei chuckled, amused at his own quick thinking. The fox had walked into that one.

Kurama smiled. "Would it be such a bad thing? Thinking of her as I know you do?" he remarked, ignoring the jab directed at him.

Hiei scowled. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Kurama! Come join us for a game!" Yukina's voice rang across the large room.

Kurama nodded at Hiei and walked towards the women seated there. He squeezed in right between Botan and Ayako. Hiei watched as he worked his kitsune magic on the females gathered around him. Soon they were all laughing, and having a great time, but Hiei spotted something specific.

He kissed her! Ok so he kissed the back of Ayako's hand but Hiei couldn't believe what that annoying fox was doing! He was already with one onna and he was still flirting with the rest of them! Hiei could feel his blood starting to rise. His eyes began to turn red, 'What the hell does he think he's doing touching her!'

Then Kurama glanced up and smiled directly at him.

'That bastard! He did that on purpose! He knew I'd react this way, even though I didn't!' Oh he was going to think of some creative ways to get back at that conniving, smug, flirty, fox! Right after he broke his face for kissing her.

Hiei looked away quickly. He didn't care that another man had kissed her. He had known of humans that had courted her before.

He thought back to that particularly grabby son-of-a-bitch who took her out a month ago. He smiled to himself as he remembered ambushing the little punk after he dropped Ayako off and breaking all the fingers on the bastard's right hand.

'Why the hell… should I care?' But his thoughts were interrupted by the feeling that they were about to be receiving company.

He looked around the room and saw the others sensed it as well.

A miko and a hanyou?


	3. The Two Mikos

**AN: I do not own IY or YYH. Thank you to my reviewers, here's chapter 2!**

"Everyone stay here, Koenma and I will greet our guests." Genkai said as her and Koenma moved towards the door. "Oh and try to be on your best behaviour, we need these two and their expertise on the next mission. Especially you, dimwit!"

Yusuke looked comically hurt, and everyone laughed. Everyone except Hiei, of course, who simply looked down upon the group from his windowsill perch with a disdainful smirk on his face.

"Alright Botan, spill it." Shizuru glared at the ferry girl in the corner.

"Spill what?" Botan tried to look innocent.

"You too Yusuke, you guys know something about our guests that we don't so spill it before Genkai and Jr. get back." Shizuru looked smug.

Botan and Yusuke looked at each other, and sighed.

"Alright, well I know their names and a bit about them, but I swear that's all Koenma told me!" Botan looked around the group before she continued.

"The miko's name is Kagome. She is a human born in this generation who had a unique quest that led her to a well that could transcend time. 500 years in the past she met an Inu-hanyou named Inuyasha and they completed the quest they were given. I'm not sure how he ended up in this time or anything like that. Ask him." she pointed her thumb at Yusuke.

"Well Grandma didn't tell me much more than that. The quest they were on was to gather the legendary Shikon no Tama and purify it, even though the miko had the jewel before hand. Apparently it was broken somehow and an evil hanyou named Naraku was after it for its potential power boost." Yusuke thought for a moment, "The jewel was eventually fully recovered by the two and the only way to purify it was through a selfless wish. They decided that they would both make a selfless wish at the same time to ensure that there was no chance of evil sneaking in and the jewel was successfully purified. The Inu-hanyou was now here in the present, their companions of the past had their memories intact and continued on with normal lives, and the jewel was gone for good."

Yusuke glanced around. "That's really all I know. I have no idea what 'mission' we're supposed to go on or why we need their help."

Hiei scowled. He didn't like the sound of accepting these two into the group. However it didn't seem like anyone else shared his sentiment. Kurama, Shizuru, Botan and Ayako began chatting away incessantly about the newcomers, how they were all excited to make new allies.

Yusuke, Keiko, Yukina and Kuwabara were discussing the possibilities that could come from new blood in the group.

"How about you Hiei?" that voice. It was her. He looked over towards the pesky onna. She looked genuinely curious to see his reaction, and something else… was that a challenge? The look on Ayako\s face was one of defiance, like she was daring him to say something to her.

"Hn" was all he replied, before he was interrupted by Genkai and Koenma leading there guests into the room.

"Alright everyone, this is Kagome, and Inuyasha" they each nodded in turn. Genkai turned to her left and began introducing everyone.

"The goofy looking one there is my dimwit apprentice Yusuke," she began

"Who you calling goofy old hag?" Yusuke said with great amusement.

"Shuddup, the nice girl to his left is his fiancé' Keiko," Keiko smiled and elbowed Yusuke in the ribs. A muffled "oomph" was heard by all.

"The tall orange one is Kuwabara, and next to him is the ice apparition Yukina,"

"Pleased to meet you both." Yukina said sweetly, as Kuwabara smiled and waved.

"The one in the black is Hiei,"

"Hn" he said and looked away.

"The red haired kitsune, Kurama and his girlfriend Shizuru,"

"Hello." Kurama smiled.

"Pleased to meet you." Shizuru remarked kindly.

"Koenma's assistant Botan," Genkai gestured to the blue-haired ferry girl.

Botan stepped forward and shook both their hands. "It's such a pleasure to meet you I've heard SO much about you both!" Botan was grinning like she does.

"Last but not least my adopted daughter Ayako."

Ayako stepped forward to greet them. She smiled sweetly at them and as she reached for Kagome's hand everyone in the room felt the surge of power, and watched as the two lost consciousness and began to collapse. Inuyasha quickly caught Kagome in his arms.

Hiei saw it all happen as if it were slow-motion. He saw her start to fall and he simply reacted without thinking.

In a blink of an eye he found himself catching, the most irritating onna he could imagine, in his arms.

Everyone was silent.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Voices.

'…I have to do something about this energy!... Shikari… scrolls… please!'

Who was this woman? What? It's the face! That same face I've seen in my dreams…

'my …dear Ayako, Kagome…"

HUH?? 'Ow, my head hurts…'

The world slowly began to come into focus again. She was, in the spare room? Ayako tried to look around but her head began to throb and so she lay back again.

"Don't try to move onna, you'll likely throw up." That voice. Why was HE here?

"Hiei, what… happened?" she croaked.

"You and the other miko had some sort of reaction to one another that caused you both to pass out." he said quietly. "Genkai is looking into the matter."

"Why are you here?" she said slowly, then afraid he would get angry she quickly continued, "I mean, why not Keiko, or Yukina?"

"Am I not good enough, onna?" Hiei said, allowing a small bit of amusement to creep into his voice.

Was he flirting with me? Weird, yet… not. She could feel her temperature rise and a blush crawl into her cheeks at the sound of his deepened voice.

"N-no, I mean Yes! You're just fine." She stammered.

She saw a small smile spread across his face. 'What are you doing AYAKO? He is responding to you? Oh boy' She swallowed hard and tried to make her expression blank.

'Is that, what I think it is?' Hiei thought to himself 'Yep, she's aroused.' He felt his body snap to attention and he inwardly groaned. His eyes scanned her face intently. 'I have to get out of here before something happens that shouldn't!'

"Onna, I am going to talk to Genkai about this. Go back to sleep." Hiei turned and left the small room.

'What… the... HELL was that?' Ayako thought to herself as she breathed a sigh of relief. She thought she saw a look in his eyes that said… well, she wasn't sure, but it had let goose bumps all over her body.

She sighed as she stared at the ceiling. She definitely did not need to be attracted to HIM right now. 'Of all people Ayako, you pick the grumpy elitist fire-apparition with a nasty temper.' Still she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like. She was smiling as she drifted off to sleep.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

'What was that onna thinking about?' Hiei watched Ayako as she drifted off again, her small form huddled beneath the blankets. He shook his head to clear the annoying thoughts from his brain and walked down the hall to the main room where everyone was seated, seemingly waiting for him.

"How is she Hiei?" Yukina asked, looking concerned.

"Hn, she will live." He replied. He spotted Kurama and saw the annoying kitsune had a smirk on his face. He sent him a death glare knowing exactly what that ugly bastard was thinking.

"Alright boys and girls, settle down and listen because we have an important mission coming up and no matter how much I'd like to know what the hell happened to make the miko's react that way, we have business to attend to." The look on Genkai's face commanded attention.

Everyone quieted down and stared at the elder woman, attention fully focused.

"Koenma has informed me that a new group calling themselves the Karyuudo, or the "hunters", is making trouble in human world. They are after something called the Kawaridane and it is said that they have been chasing it for centuries."

"Then why have we only heard of them making trouble now?" Yusuke asked.

"Apparently they believed there target to be dead until recently." Genkai turned to Koenma.

Koenma nodded, and spoke. "The subjects they are chasing dates back to an old prophecy dictating these Kawaridane would bring about serious change in the Makai and upset the balance of power as we know it today."

"And so, the demons in power at the time did not want such a change to occur and formed the Karyuudo sect, to seek out and destroy the Kawaridane when they were born."

"Alright so what does this have to do with us Master Genkai?" Kurama asked, a slight frown crossing his features.

"Until we know the identity of this Kawaridane, or "unique hybrid" our job is simply to keep the Karyuudo from causing trouble here in human world." Genkai looked around the room.

"Training will commence tomorrow for you all have been slacking off far too much lately and our new friend Inuyasha," she nodded at the hanyou sitting quietly off to the side, "and Kagome have new skills and experiences to add to our own."

"What about Ayako and Kagome?" Shizuru asked looking down the hall to the rooms they were sleeping in.

"I plan on allowing them to train together the most Shizuru. I believe they know more about what happened to them then anyone else here. Plus they can teach each other a great deal about their separate abilities." Genkai sighed. "Hiei, I would also like you to teach Ayako to use a katana."

Hiei jerked his head up. "What? Why me? Why a sword?"

"Don't ask so many questions just do it you little twirp." Genkai barked back at him.

Hiei seethed with anger. If he didn't respect the old hag so much he would have ripped out her throat.

"I have a hunch she'll need to know how to use one." Genkai said softly.

Hiei accepted that answer and turned to go back to Ayako's room. He reached out with his mind and touched Kurama's

'**Stuff it fox. I've been assigned to watch over her.'**

Kurama's inner voice sounded highly amused. '_I didn't say a thing Hiei…'_

'**Hn… keep it that way.'**

Hiei marched out of the room followed closely by the inu-hanyou.

'Well tomorrow should be interesting.' He thought to himself as he pictured Ayako in her training outfit, that tight little thing that he refused to watch her wear because it produced a very frustrated fire demon.

He always had to go kill at least ten lowly apparitions to blow off the steam produced. And now he had to train her, face to face! 'I will need a cold shower every five minutes!'

Hiei sighed. Stupid pesky onna doing things to his head. Why her?

She was a skinny little runt. Shorter than him which was rare, considering he was barely five feet tall with his hair. She wasn't even beautiful. 'Don't lie to yourself Hiei, she's absolutely stunning.'

He growled, barely aware that he was doing so, at himself.

He walked into her room and Inuyasha continued to the one next to it. The hanyou nodded towards Hiei and he nodded back. For some reason he respected that silent dog demon already. Probably because he was just as quiet as he was.

Hiei slid the door shut and sat down next to it, his back against the wall.

She was fast asleep, her breathing quiet and even.

Hiei scanned her small form, drinking in her silent beauty.

'Of all people Hiei, you pick a tiny miko who is far too good for you. Beautiful, smart and powerful. You'll have to shape up to win this one'

Hiei's eyes slowly closed as her body seemed to exude peace. He drifted off to sleep his head on his raised knees, and dreamt of a green eyed miko with a sword.


	4. Unknown connection

**AN: Here we go chapter three. I will try to get chapter four up right away as well since it's already half written. I do not own IY or YYH. **

_Hiei was crossing the room to where she was sitting. Everyone was there and they were watching intently. 'Oh no, he knows! How can he know?' she glanced nervously around the crowded room, 'Stupid demon heightened senses!'_

"_Onna," Ayako snapped her head around to face Hiei automatically, "why do I catch you staring at me with that hunger in your eyes, and that scent upon you?"_

_Ayako looked puzzled for Hiei's face was warping into one she'd never seen before. It slowly grew ghastly pale and long black hair poured down his shoulders. Suddenly his eyes flashed open to reveal bright yellow orbs with long black slits for pupils, his mouth opened and huge, hinged fangs dropped down._

"_Do you want me to eat you? Little Kawaridane?!?" His face turned into a grimace with those horrible fangs hanging out, and he began to laugh loudly, and all her friends who were still in the room joined in._

Ayako sat up quickly, and glanced around her dimly lit surroundings. She was panting hard, and sweating. 'Oh god, it was just a dream…' She flopped back down on her futon, and stared at the ceiling for a moment.

'Did I just see…' she looked over to her left to see a very peaceful looking fire demon. 'Yep I just saw. Hiei stayed here with me all night.' She sat up quickly. 'HIEI stayed here with ME all NIGHT?!?'

Trying to calm her suddenly pounding heart she watched him sleep, with his back against the wall. She had never seen him look so… 'content? No.' Then it came to her. He wasn't scowling. Or glaring or anything like that.

He looked good. Way too good. 'Do not go there Ayako. He'd probably break your arm if you tried to wake him right now and then you'd be in even rougher shape.'

Ayako decided she could not get back to sleep, even though the lighting told her it was barely 5:00am. She quietly threw on her fuzzy bathrobe and her 'Kawaii!!' bunny slippers, and slipped out of the room, leaving behind her confusing thoughts about the grumpy apparition that had watched over her all night.

Ayako glances to her left where she saw Kagome, also up and walking towards her. Ayako grins at the confused look on Kagome's face and puts a finger to her lips to let her know to be quiet. Demons have very sensitive hearing, and there were quite a few in the house.

Kagome followed her through the main room, where she'd been introduced, to a small table in the corner.

"It should be alright to talk now, as long as we keep it quiet." Ayako said and smiled at the other miko. "Would you like some tea? I am going to make some."

"Yes, tea would be wonderful right now." Kagome replied softly.

Ayako walked over to the little kitchen in the next room and filled the kettle with water and set it on the stove. Kagome was looking at a picture on the wall when she got back.

"Is this you?" Kagome asked, and Ayako walked over to glance at the picture.

Ayako laughed, "Yeah. And that's Botan, Keiko, Yukina, Shizuru, and Genkai in the front with me. All the boys are in the back… even Hiei, though he's up there in the tree."

Kagome smiled. "You all look so young."

"We were about 15, well us humans at least. I think Kurama is closer to 300, I have no idea about Botan and I think Hiei and Yukina are about 200." Ayako smiled, and then quickly stopped. 'Did I just tell her about Hiei and Yukina already? Geez I need to watch my big mouth or Hiei will cut it off for me!'

"Hiei and Yukina? You talk as if they are siblings." Kagome said innocently.

Ayako made a face and sighed. "They are. But you cannot say anything! Yukina doesn't know and Hiei doesn't want her to find out. Don't ask me why either, because I don't know." Kagome looked down the hall to where she hoped Hiei was still sleeping. "If he finds out I told you he'd be… angry" She said quietly.

Kagome got the impression that was putting it lightly. So she smiled and made the "zip the lip" motion with her hand.

Ayako giggled softly, and right at that moment she heard the kettle start to boil.

"Make yourself comfortable Kagome, I'll be right back." Ayako hurried off to the kitchen.

She came back carrying a kettle and two tea cups in one hand, and a stack of toast, a butter knife and a jar of strawberry jam in the other. She made it to the table without dropping anything and looked up to see Kagome with an astonished look on her face.

Ayako smiled, "I was a waitress in high school for extra cash. Genkai doesn't believe in allowances."

Kagome giggled and took the kettle from Ayako and poured out two cups of tea.

"So…" Kagome began, "what the hell happened to us?"

Ayako grinned, "You know I was just about to ask the same question. In the same way too!"

Kagome began, "I've been having these strange dreams lately, and when we shook hands I saw the same face I'd been seeing in my dreams!"

Ayako felt a shiver run down her spine. "This woman wouldn't happen to look middle aged and wearing a red and white traditional miko's garb would she?"

Kagome's eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head.

"I woke up briefly last night, after our, explosive encounter, and I heard a woman saying…" Ayako began.

"… 'I have to do something about this energy, Shikari… scrolls…please!'" Kagome finished.

They both sat quietly staring at each other.

"Well that's weird!"

Both girls whirled to see who spoke.

"Master Genkai! How long have you been standing there?" Ayako asked.

"Long enough to hear your freaky little story." Genkai sighed and joined them at the table, an empty tea cup in hand, she quietly poured herself some.

After she took a sip she looked at the two girls and said, "If I were to ask you two, what this woman's name was, even though it was never said aloud, what would you tell me."

They both pondered that for a moment and spoke at the same time.

"Rui."

They looked at each other again, this time, expecting it.

"Master Genkai do you have any idea what happened when we shook hands yesterday?" Kagome asked.

"I can touch Ayako's hand now and nothing happens." She demonstrated.

"Hmm, I don't know for sure Kagome but I could tell you my hunch." Genkai looked at the two of them listening intently.

"Alright, I believe there is something between you two. I know you have never met before yesterday and yet you carry striking similarities." Ayako and Kagome looked at one another.

"For one, you are both miko, and not a fake lowly powered miko that we usually find in shrines today but real ancient super power miko with the ability to materialize your holy energy. Next you are the same age and according to Koenma have similar pasts, both being adopted at a very young age. Your teenage years differ slightly but there are still huge similarities like, befriending demons, and in Kagome's case falling in love with one. Which is not something normal teenagers do."

Kagome blushed slightly. "Another point is simply in your appearance! Although you, Kagome are a head taller than my Ayako, you have the same face, eyes, though not eye colour, and build." Ayako examined Kagome carefully as Kagome did the same, coming to the same conclusion Genkai had.

'Creepy' Ayako thought. Genkai continued.

"Now along with all those similarities you both are beginning to recall things that are identical," Genkai sighed. "I believe you two must be related. Somehow. Cousins, sisters. I'm not sure but the explosive greeting tells a big part of the story."

Now Ayako was confused. Seeing the look on her face Genkai explained.

"People, who are closely related, emit a similar type of aura, energy, whatever you would like to call it. When siblings or close cousins are separated for a length of time the energy begins to build up, longing to be connected with its counterpart. I believe since the two of you were separated, most likely at birth, it seems that when you met for the first time that energy, was released all at once. Think of it as Yusuke dragging his feet across the carpet and touching you to shock you with static."

Ayako nodded, knowing exactly what Genkai was talking about.

"Now imagine if Yusuke was doing that for twenty years before he shocked you."

Light seemed to dawn on the two of them that moment.

"So Ayako and I shaking hands finally brought our energies into contact again after so long." Kagome said.

"And the result was a very big shock." Ayako finished.

The girls fell silent as they swallowed that load of information.

"Now I could be completely off-base but that is my hunch. Anyway I'll have Botan run off to spirit world to look up information on this 'Rui' and maybe we'll have something more definite soon." Genkai took a big gulp of tea.

Both Kagome and Ayako nodded, and silently drank their tea and nibbled on their toast, suddenly with a lot less appetite.

"Anyway, you two missed out on the whole purpose of Inuyasha and Kagome coming here in the first place. I told the others last night and I will tell you now." Genkai began.

Kagome and Ayako listened intently to the story about the Karyuudo and how they were causing trouble in human world. Ayako visibly stiffened at the word "Kawaridane" and she didn't know why… 'Where have I heard that word before…'

"_Do you want me to eat you? Little Kawaridane?!?"_

'That dream!'

"Ayako? Do you have something to add?" Genkai asked, looking a bit annoyed that her adopted daughter seemed not to be listening.

"Hmm? Oh, no. Just thinking about training." Ayako managed to spit out.

"Ah yes, speaking of training, I will be having you two do the most of everyone. Ayako, I've already asked Kurama to train you in hand-to-hand combat and Hiei has agreed to teach you how to use a sword." Genkai said so "matter- of -factly", "And Kagome I know Inuyasha will teach you how to use a bow staff, and Yusuke agreed to teach you some hand-to hand skills as well."

Kagome nodded, while Ayako looked disturbed. 'Hiei is going to train me in swordsmanship? Oh boy.'

"Everyone will be training with Shizuru on how to increase your awareness, and I've left it up to her on how to train you in that area." Genkai said slowly,

"Now to begin with today I want the two of you to train. Ayako, you have superior knowledge of magical healing, and Kagome you know more of herbs and how to make certain poisons, antidotes and salves. Teach one another. After you are done with that I want you to train physically. Mostly in stamina. I want you to run, and use your powers at the same time, you may only quit once you cannot go on any longer. I will assign someone to watch out for you during this time as you may pass out in the middle of the woods."

Ayako nodded calmly, knowing Genkai's way, whereas Kagome looked a bit more shocked, but no less eager to begin.

"Ayako if you wouldn't mind finding Kagome a training suit, we'll begin once you've changed." Genkai said. "I'll be waiting outside to show you your spot."

Ayako stood up and stretched. "It's been awhile since I've trained. She's right we've all been slacking."

"Is she always this intense?" Kagome asked.

Ayako laughed. "Yeah, but she is the best trainer in the world."

Ayako led Kagome down the hall to her normal room, silently passing by the room she slept in the night before.

She rummaged through her closet to her training outfits. She had six all in black, with green elbows shoulders and knees. She found the one that was the biggest since Kagome was taller than her and handed it to her.

"You can change in here; I'll go to the bathroom." Ayako began walking out of the room.

"Today is going to be a long day isn't it?" Kagome said, smiling.

"You have no idea." Ayako said and left the room.


	5. Training Day One

**AN: Here we go for Chapter 4. This one is a bit long. Hope you enjoy! Thanks to my first reviewer on ff. net, Renee. This one is dedicated to you. I still do not own IY or YYH. **

Hiei slowly took in the room around him as it came into focus. 'What the… I fell ASLEEP??' He shot to his feet and looked around the room in the dim light.

His heart started to pound. 'Where is Ayako?... Baka! You were supposed to be watching her!' Knowing his actions were irrational he rushed from the bedroom and almost collided with Genkai in the hall.

"Genkai, where is Ayako?" Hiei asked with a little too much heat in his voice.

Genkai raised an eyebrow at the koorime hybrid. "Hiei, she is changing to begin training today. Why are you in such a fuss? There are no enemies around to get her."

Hiei shut up quickly, then proceeded to glare at the older woman.

"Were you concerned, oh great and unfeeling Hiei?" Genkai said snidely, showing him from the look on her face that she knew exactly how he felt about her adopted daughter.

"Hn…" Hiei scowled. 'Kuso! The last thing I need is for others to know how she affects me'

"What do you want old woman? I assume you were coming to get me?" He said coolly.

Genkai sighed. "Hiei, I want you to watch over Kagome and Ayako while they train today. I have given them strict orders to not stop until they cannot physically go any longer. I am going to get Inuyasha as well."

"Hn, why me? I'm certain you could find someone else better suited to babysit." Hiei spat.

Genkai gave him a knowing look. "Are you sure you want Kurama, Yusuke or even Kuwabara looking after her when she passes out in the middle of the woods?"

Hiei's blood began boiling just at the thought of that Kitsune carrying her back. 'Dammit! She's doing it again!'

Genkai smirked, knowing exactly what the apparition was thinking, and began walking outside toward the edge of the western forest. Hiei followed her. 'As long as it's just Genkai I can live with this. Kuso! Why am I acting like such a fool?'

Hiei looked up and saw Inuyasha and Kagome talking, and Ayako waving at the newcomers.

"Are we ready to begin Master Genkai?" Ayako asked with an excited grin.

Hiei's eyes involuntarily scanned her body as they approached. 'Why the HELL does she have to wear THAT when she trains?' She looked…hot, which is not something you should look like when you're going to be training!

Hiei sighed and tried to force his mind to stop thinking of what it would be like to peel that skin tight suit off of her while she squirmed beneath him.

"Hiei?" Ayako asked, looking up at him.

"What onna? Genkai has asked me to make sure you don't die in the woods." Hiei sneered.

Ayako looked crestfallen.

'Kuso! Why do I always do that? Look at her face you BAKA!'

He tuned out of their conversation and simply watched her. Perhaps it was better to keep letting her think he hated her. Then he wouldn't have to make her deal with him. It was better this way. He wasn't near good enough for her.

'But who is?' he asked himself and scowled. Thinking of anyone else touching her made him want to kill things.

"Well then let's get started. We'll start out with some simple target practise. Hiei, Inuyasha, you can do what you want just don't stray too far. Once they begin endurance training they'll be all over the place." Genkai said, and with that Hiei was up in a tree, content to watch the first half of training or fall asleep in the process.

'What do you mean fall asleep? There is no way you'll fall asleep watching her train in… that thing!' Hiei scowled, and looked down upon the range.

Both Ayako and Kagome were positioned in their firing stance, as Genkai tied blindfolds over their eyes. Hiei watched as the two raised their left arms and materialized a bow with their holy power. He watched intently as with their right arms they pulled back the string of the bow and materialized a holy arrow that sparked with power. He silently observed as they released and hit their targets, first barely hitting them, but with continually shouted commands from Genkai they began to hit the targets solidly and in the center.

Hiei found himself caught in a trance as he watched the sweat trickle down the side of Ayako's neck. As her muscles flexed and released when she shot, and the small shout she gave every time she released sent a shiver down his spine.

'God she's sexy, and powerful! I am in major trouble.' He could see she was beginning to tire and her mouth was open slightly panting. Hiei couldn't stop the image of her under him panting like that, her hot breath caressing his neck.

Hiei could feel his body tensing up and he quickly darted away into the forest.

"Hiei! Where are you going?" Genkai shouted, knowing very well why he was leaving.

"Hn… to kill things." With that he was gone.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako looked at her adopted mother with a confused look on her face. She was sweating like crazy and slightly out of breath. 'Kuso! Hiei must think I'm disgusting, getting so tired out over a simple exercise.'

She looked at the ground, her enthusiasm leaving as quickly as it came when she saw Hiei coming towards her this morning.

Genkai saw the look on Ayako's face and sighed. When was her daughter going to open her eyes?

"It's not what you think, Ayako." Genkai said to her softly so Kagome wouldn't hear.

"Huh? Master?" Ayako feigned confusion, knowing it would be unlikely to fool her mother.

"Don't play dumb girl. Now buck up, we've just gotten started!" Genkai shouted.

"Hai!" Ayako's face lit up. 'I'll just get stronger. Then he'll have to acknowledge my existence!' Ayako pulled her blindfold back into place and resumed the monotonous shooting.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei came back feeling much better. Those pesky lower apparitions were perfect for relieving his frustration, but what he saw when he came back felt like an ice pick shoved through his heart.

Kagome was slouched on the ground and Inuyasha was sitting beside her cradling the unconscious girl to his chest. Ayako was swaying where she stood her face had grown ghastly pale and her arms shook as she tried to materialize another arrow. He watched in horror as her bow flickered and went out and she crumpled to the ground.

Hiei was at her side in a flash holding her tiny body; he listened for a pulse, and found one, though very weak.

"Baka ONNA! Are you trying to kill her?!" He shouted at Genkai who was standing calmly to the side.

"Hiei you know as well as I do that she will be fine. Now that we know what their limit is we can more safely conduct the rest of their training." Genkai looked at the sun. "Its only noon. They will be up in a few hours and we will continue training."

At the look on Hiei's face she sighed and continued. "Hiei, when I say we will be continuing their training I mean they will do the non energy related training. Ayako is a skilled healer and Kagome a knowledgeable herbist. They will teach one another. Don't get your panties in a knot."

'There is that look again!' Hiei seethed with anger, wishing he could strangle the old hag for that knowledge.

"Hiei since you seem so willing will you take Ayako over to the gazebo? There are mats that I set out earlier that they can rest on. You too Inuyasha." Genkai called.

Inuyasha nodded and leapt off, Kagome clutched in his arms. Hiei gave the old woman one last scowl as he gathered up the small miko. He too took off towards the small building, and gently laid Ayako on the mat set out.

'She's starting to get colour back in her face. Thank God!' He sighed and sat with his back to the railing. His heart finally starting to slow it's frantic pace.

"You love that girl don't you?" Hiei's eyes shot open with surprise. He looked across the shady gazebo and saw the Inu-hanyou looking at him knowingly. 'Have I ever heard him speak?'

"Hn. You don't know what you're talking about." Hiei shot back.

He heard the hanyou chuckle, and Hiei's eyes darkened with anger.

"You remind me of … well me." He shook his head and looked at the sleeping form of his Kagome.

Hiei restrained himself for the moment and let the hanyou continue.

"When I first met Kagome, I was an idiot. I tried to kill her!" He shook his head, "but after awhile I couldn't stop thinking about her. I was constantly worried because she was always being attacked and captured and her life was always threatened."

He looked directly at Hiei. "I can't say it became easier when I realized I was in love with her. For one thing my mind kept telling me I was not good enough for this angel." He glanced down at her and continued. "I was just a lowly hanyou. Something no one ever accepts and most definitely something no one could ever love."

Hiei felt the words strike home. Hadn't he been thinking the same?

"But after awhile I could tell that my love for her wasn't enough. She needed to know. I could see her break a little more inside every time I callously brushed her off, 'for her own good'. Keh!" He looked disgusted with himself.

Hiei looked down at the small woman sleeping in front of him. He thought of all the times he saw her looking his way, and blushing profusely when he caught her eye.

"You don't have to tell me if you love her Hiei. It's just that I can see the signs, and I respect you." Inuyasha sighed and looked up at the sky, the late fall wind blew a gust of leaves through the air around them.

"I found that telling her, knowing that I wasn't good enough for her was the toughest thing I've ever done. But look at me now. She doesn't seem to think as I do." Inuyasha stood up and climbed up on the railing preparing himself to leap away into the forest.

"So what made you tell her?" Hiei shot out before he could stop himself.

Inuyasha turned and smiled a knowing smile. "I couldn't stand the thought of her being with anyone else."

With that he was gone. No doubt to kill some boredom while waiting for the girls to wake up.

Hiei looked down at the woman sleeping before him. He softly brushed away a piece of hair from her face. His breath caught at the warmth and silkiness of her cheek.

His heart began to pound. 'Kuso! I gotta go kill things again!'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako opened her eyes. 'Where the hell am I? Why do I keep passing out? Dammit Hiei must think I'm a wuss!'

She sat up too quickly and the world around her spun. She put a hand to her forehead to stop the spinning and looked again.

"Bout time you woke up." She looked over to see Yusuke grinning at her.

"Ugh why do I…" she trailed off. 'Oh yeah Genkai made us reach our limit. That's why I'm here' She looked to her right and saw Kagome beginning to rouse.

"Hi Yusuke. What does the Nazi want now that we've completely drained ourselves?" She grumbled.

"Ah HAH! I always told you she was an old bag when training!" Yusuke shouted triumphantly.

Ayako nodded and climbed to her feet, stumbling a bit. Yusuke caught her by the arm steadying her as she got her bearings back. Then he turned and also helped Kagome to her feet.

"Let's go you two. Genkai promised the rest of the days training would be more fun." Yusuke said trying to cheer them up.

They both nodded and grumbled as he helped them over to the edge of the northern forest where Genkai, Hiei and Inuyasha were waiting.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei saw the spirit detective grab Ayako's arm and he felt anger surge through him, but he quickly squashed it. 'What is wrong with you? You going to kill everyone that touches her now?' It didn't sound like a horrible idea but he knew Ayako wouldn't appreciate it if he killed someone she considered to be a brother.

Hiei watched from his perch in the tree the rest of the day's training. This part actually was less interesting for one thing because they were just talking and looking for plants and healing random injured animals. And for another thing Genkai had told them to go change into normal clothing. He couldn't even torture himself with that skin tight outfit of hers anymore.

Inuyasha and Hiei watched as the shadow's grew longer and the air grew cooler. Finally he heard the Spirit Detective's woman call them in for supper, and Genkai called an end to the day.

Hiei didn't wait for the others. He quickly headed off to the main house and settled himself on the railing of the porch and watched as the others slowly made their way back.

Tomorrow was the katana training and he was going to have to control himself around that pesky onna. Hiei sighed, 'Tomorrow is going to be a long day.'


	6. Training Reflection, New Developments

**AN: Sorry for the late update. Halloween really kicked my ass. Story is finally starting to go somewhere I know, It'll all make sense soon enough. Sadly I don't own IY or YYH.**

Ayako stared at the sky. 'What day is it today?' She pondered to herself, sighing. It seemed like years had passed since her training began. In reality it was only three weeks.

She looked around her hoping Genkai hadn't found her yet. She really needed a breather from training with Hiei. Her body was betraying her at every chance it got! She had been training with him the most which did absolutely nothing for her sanity. Like on the sixth…or seventh day they'd been working together…

"_Onna! Pay attention to your surroundings or you'll lose that pretty little head of yours!" Hiei shouted at her. _

_His words definitely did not have the desired effect of her paying attention because she was instantly replaying the fact that she had a "pretty little head…", and it cost her a nasty slice on the shoulder, tearing her only clean training suit from her shoulder to the middle of her ribs on her left side._

"_Ah…" she winced, "Gomen Hiei, that was my own fault…" Ayako looked up and saw Hiei staring at her intently. _

_She followed his gaze to her side and saw a generous amount of skin, (and a bit of side boob) poking out from her training suit. Before she could do anything Hiei was at her side inspecting her wound. The feel of his rough hands on her skin sent shivers to the tips of her toes._

_She swallowed hard and looked up to meet his gaze._

"_You should go see Keiko and get that patched up; we still have a few hours of training to do…" He said huskily._

_All she could do was nod and hurry off to find Keiko to quickly get her to stitch up her torn suit. When Ayako reached her Keiko's eyebrows raised almost to her hairline, hearing Ayako's stammered story and observing her incredibly red face._

The rest of that day went without much incident. Hiei didn't mention the fact that he could probably smell the arousal falling off her in waves and Ayako tried hard to concentrate only on her body, her sword and her movements.

Training with everyone else was fun. Especially Kurama. Although that was also an interesting day.

"_Don't let your guard down Ayako!" She heard him shout from behind her to the left and she barely dodged the roundhouse kick that would have likely knocked her unconscious. She took advantage of his position and swung her right leg back and around to catch him off guard but he anticipated her movements and quickly twisted his upper body and grabbed hold of her ankle and flung her body against the nearest tree._

_She slid to the base as stars exploded in her vision._

_When her vision cleared she saw a very interesting sight._

_Hiei had Kurama pinned to the ground and had his sword pointed dangerously close to his Carotid artery and she could hear them talking in low, heated voices._

_She couldn't quite make out what was being said but she heard her own name, so she tried to get to her feet so she could get closer to the intriguing conversation the Hybrid and the Kitsune were having. She stumbled closer and heard bits of the conversation._

"_Hiei are you so naïve to think that an enemy is going to go easy on her because of her size and sex?"Kurama practically shouted._

"_Hn…" was the only reply as Hiei snapped his head up and saw her walking slowly towards them. His eyes softened momentarily as he seemed to assess her condition and then in a blur he was gone again._

_Kurama stood up and brushed himself off. Ayako was dying to ask what was said but Kurama cut her off._

"_Ready to continue?"_

_She bit her bottom lip and nodded._

She came out of her day dream to see someone walking towards her. She squinted as the sun was in her eyes and shielded her eyes. He didn't come into focus until he was nearly on top of her.

"Hi." She said, rather brightly.

He continued to stare at her for a second, then took a seat next to her with his back against the tree. Her heart almost stopped in her chest, and then it began hammering so hard she was sure he could hear it.

He remained silent and Ayako started fidgeting horribly. She hated how …silent he was!

"So… Oh! Do you know what day it is by chance?" She said cheerfully trying to break the silence with something she actually did want to know.

"Hn. It is Sunday." he replied evenly.

"Yeah but what's the date?" she pressed.

"The second of December." he sighed.

"ARE you SERIOUS!?" She shouted.

Hiei actually looked startled, and then his mask of indifference fell back into place. "Why would I lie about such a trivial thing?"

"Oh shit…" Ayako said and looked at the ground.

"Why does the date matter onna?" he looked at her curiously.

"Well my birthday is on Wednesday, the fifth." She replied slowly knowing he would think her outburst extremely silly.

He surprised her when all he said was "Hn."

Hiei got to his feet quickly "Onna, you have evaded me for a good hour. Let's get back to training."

Ayako sighed as she got to her feet, and followed him back to their spot in the eastern forest.

She stood opposite him. The both bowed to one another and then settled into their sparring stance. Left foot forward, weight on her right, sword held upright in both hands directly in front of her body.

"Let's go through all the strikes and parries first slowly then we will spar. I will not go easy on you today. We have trained for long enough I believe you are ready for true sparring." Hiei said evenly, and Ayako nodded her ascent, a slight blush rising to her cheeks at the sideline compliment.

Hiei swung his sword around from the right and Ayako raised her arms up with the point of her sword to the ground to parry. She followed through to her right as he spun to attack from the opposite side. She spun faster and stepped towards him with her right foot blocking his attack, her sword pointed to the left.

Ayako felt like she was dancing as he swung and she parried, as she thrust and he pushed it aside. Eventually they went through the routine they had been practising for the last three weeks and they were back in their ready stance, Ayako panting slightly.

"Alright. Let's do this." He said and leapt at her.

She almost lost her balance as she quickly brought her sword up and deflected his blade and his body to the side. It seemed he hadn't expected her to react and as his weight was off balance she thrust hard for the opening which he barely dodged. She stood back readying herself for his next strike, and then he did something completely unexpected.

He looked at the side she almost impaled and observed a small slice through his cloak. He threw it to the ground and they could see she had nicked him, and a small trail of blood was leaking out of the wound.

He turned his head towards her his eyes flashing red as a small grin fell across his face.

She smirked back at him as she felt her body heat up under his intense gaze. Then he disappeared.

She sensed his energy to her right and leapt backwards but not before a long shallow gash was made in the belly of her training suit.

She watched him settle to his ready stance about ten feet away. She quirked an eyebrow at him and he grinned. 'He actually grinned! Holy crap! Ok so that's how we're gonna play…'

She brought her holy powers to the surface and "flash stepped" to quickly get to his right side. He blocked her first swing that would have taken a good chunk of his left thigh but she threw him off balance by letting go of her sword with her right arm and swung an elbow up towards his face.

That was a mistake.

His reaction time was impeccable and he grabbed her right wrist and struck her left wrist with his other hand. In less than a second she had dropped her sword and she found herself pinned face first against the nearest tree with her right arm twisted uncomfortably behind her back.

Hiei's entire body was pressed into hers as she tried to struggle out of his grasp. She could feel his powerful abdomen and thighs as they pressed her hard against the trunk.

Suddenly she was being whipped around to face him, his left hand holding the sword to her throat. She looked into his face which was distractingly close to her own. She looked at his face and his eyes seemed to burn into hers. Her eyes drifted to his lips and she observed that they were slightly parted as he panted. Taking in ragged and shallow breaths.

She found that she was having trouble breathing herself. He leaned towards her and spoke softly in her ear, his breath on her neck sending shivers down her spine and making her entire body weak.

"I thought I told you to keep both hands on your sword, at all times…"

She swallowed hard, and looked at his eyes as he pulled away to watch her reaction.

Ayako felt her knees start to give but the problem was soon solved as she found he had dropped his own sword and had her firmly pressed up against the tree his left hand holding both her arms above her head and his left thigh in between her own.

"I… thought I'd improvise." She replied, astonished that she managed to sound so calm.

She was getting hot... too hot.

He brought his right hand up and settled it on her hip as he brought his leg up and lifted her off the ground.

Ayako gasped as a shot of hot pleasure flew from the junction of her thighs to settle in the pit of her stomach.

"How do you do this to me…" he asked shakily as he brought his mouth closer and closer to hers.

Ayako's eyes rolled into the back of her head as she felt his tongue run up the side of her neck and shivered when he lightly nibbled on her ear with his fangs.

Her thoughts could no longer string together a coherent response so she simply moaned softly as he kissed her neck, her ear, her collarbone.

"Hiei…" his name managed to escape her lips and she felt him tense his hold on her.

"Am I interrupting?"

'SHIT!!' Ayako almost fell down as Hiei practically leapt away from her and her feet met solid ground once again.

Genkai was standing at the far edge of the clearing smirking to herself and Ayako felt like she'd really like to learn how to sink into trees.

"What do you want?" Hiei snapped. "We were training you old hag, so if it's not important I suggest you go take your knowing smirks elsewhere."

Ayako looked at him surprised. 'Knowing? What the hell?'

Genkai shook her head. "We just got information that the Karyuudo are on the move, and they are close by. Everyone is moving out to stop them, including you two love birds."

Ayako almost choked on her tongue.

"Everyone is gathering in the main house to receive instructions, then you will all be sent out on two man teams to travel quicker and kill silently." Genkai looked at her daughter.

"Ayako I suggested you get a different garment. That one appears to be torn."

Ayako blushed even more knowing what her adopted mother was thinking and hurried off to the compound without a word.

'What the hell just happened back there?' Was her last thought as her body fell into business mode.


	7. Revelations

**AN: Alright everyone, here is chpt 6. Long chapter but I couldn't figure how to break it up. This one just flowed right out of me. I hope you like it. I do not own IY or YYH. **

Hiei watched Ayako run off towards the compound as he was left to try to get his body back under control. He looked up to see Genkai was gone as well. Silently he thanked the old hag for not staying behind to pester him about what she had just come upon.

Hiei didn't feel like answering questions when he had so many of his own.

'What the hell have I done?' He scowled as he remembered how her heart rate had shot through the roof when he breathed those words softly in her ear.

He had wanted her so badly, and at the time I don't think she would have objected much either. 'How could someone so…perfect… possibly want me?' He shook his head. No, he had just caught her off guard. He wouldn't do that again until he knew for sure she wanted him too.

He started walking slowly back to the complex. He knew it would be horribly difficult for him to keep his hands off her if they were left alone again. That pesky onna got under his skin in a way no other female ever had.

Day after day of their training together he found himself having to spend his evenings in a cold shower. Watching her small body master the movement so gracefully and watching her lips as they were slightly parted, panting, made him want to, well do what he had just did, and more.

His blood was getting heated just remembering the slice in her uniform from his slash across the belly. How when she moved it showed off her smooth skin and her recently formed abs. I was all he could do not to rip the entire thing off and have her right on the forest floor in the middle of their training grounds.

Even watching her train with Kurama was getting hard to take. Not just the fact that she was becoming increasingly skilled, and that in itself was a turn on, but having to watch that damned fox "assist her with her stance" was enough to send Hiei into a fit of rage that could only be quelled by killing lesser apparitions.

The thought of another man touching her was becoming a problem. One that he knew was irrational especially when he had staked no claim on the girl.

Hiei sighed.

'I may have to get my ass in gear. But later. Not until I have the opportunity to tell her. Until then I have to keep my distance.'

He nodded to himself as he walked up the steps into the main house. It was a good plan.

Or so he thought.

Ayako had just finished throwing on her fresh uniform, strapping her new katana to her back securely, when she heard Genkai calling her from the main room.

She shouted her ascent.

'Yeah yeah I'm coming.' She thought to herself.

Her blush still hadn't faded, thinking of what her and Hiei had been discovered doing during their training.

His actions toward her did not cease to amaze and baffle. One second he was cold and aloof, the next he was her skilled teacher and the next well…he had her pinned against a tree pondering how quickly she could remove every item of clothing he was wearing.

She tried to push it out of her mind. They had a mission and if she kept thinking of what it would be like to run her tongue all over his body she would end up crashing into a tree and rendering herself unconscious and totally useless.

Something she did not want to be in front of him.

She could hear the voices of everyone gathered in the common room. She took a deep breath knowing he would be in there already. She would not look at him when she walked in. She knew she would blush and she didn't want the curious looks of Botan or Keiko right now.

As she walked in the room she immediately saw him out of the corner of her eye. He was in his usual spot on the windowsill and she strode past him to sit with the others around the large "briefing" table, as Yusuke liked to call it.

"Alright everyone is here." Genkai looked around the group gathered.

She stood on a chair with her "smiting" stick as Yusuke also like to refer to it, pointing at a large map of the area that was spread out on the table. On the table were little coloured representations of all of them. Their were eight in total with the colours green, black, red, purple, yellow, blue, white, and brown to represent herself, Hiei, Kurama, Shizuru, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Inuyasha, and Kagome respectively. There were also several orange pieces on the board to represent the position of the current enemy.

"We have received information that there are four ranging parties consisting of about five hunters each." She moved the orange pieces to different positions on the map. There seemed to be around three to five kilometres between each hunting party. The thing that was worrying Ayako was the proximity to her favourite little village where she often went to get groceries.

"You will break into your usual pairs and take out the group I have assigned." As she spoke she moved her green pawn and Hiei's black pawn to the group that was second farthest away, approximately 35 kilometres.

Ayako sighed, that is going to be a long trip.

Genkai was continuing her instructions as she moved Kurama and Shizuru's pawns to the area closest, Yusuke and Kuwabara's to the group near the village, and Inuyasha and Kagome's to the farthest one away.

"Now Hiei, Ayako, Inuyasha and Kagome, I must insist on haste in getting to your targets. If these groups have some way of communicating with each other we need to strike at the same time. I suggest following Inuyasha's example and carry Ayako on your back Hiei." Genkai turned to the hybrid sitting in the window.

Hiei's eyes went wide as his mind comprehended those words. He looked horribly uncomfortable with the thought of her body pressed against his back for an extended period of time. Ayako was feeling the very same thing. She wasn't sure she could be piggybacked all the way out there without losing her concentration some how and doing something that she would regret.

Like licking the back of his neck.

The blush she had been fighting off rose in full force, and she looked up to find Hiei staring at her intently.

"Master Genkai, it's alright. I can keep up." She offered quickly.

Genkai gave her a look but decided against objecting.

"Whatever child. If you feel you can do it I won't stop you from trying. But don't wear yourself out. Remember you are outnumbered and you will have to fight once you get there. Don't use up all your energy on pride." She turned away to face the others then.

Ayako looked up at Hiei again and found he was giving her a curious look. One she couldn't seem to pinpoint. 'Is he disappointed?'

"Alright everyone, enough gawking. It is 9:00pm now. I will give the two farthest groups an hour to get out there, meaning you will have to haul ass." Genkai looked at Ayako, and she looked at the table fiercely. 'I can do it.' She huffed to herself.

"Everyone strike at 10:00pm, and be silent and efficient. If you let one get away they will know we are onto them and may try an assault on our home turf, which I'm sure you all know is unacceptable."

Yusuke looked at Keiko, and squeezed her hand which was resting lightly in his own. Ayako nodded to herself. 'I'll protect this place with my life.'

"Move out kids, and good luck." Genkai said and the room was clear in a flash.

Ayako stood facing the edge of the northern forest and Hiei stood beside her. A little ways down she saw Kagome climbing onto Inuyasha's back. She saw Hiei watching them and he turned back to her about to say something but she cut him off.

"Well let's go Hiei, we only have an hour and 35 kilometres is a long way." Feeling like she was doing something incredibly foolish she brought her holy power to the surface and "flash stepped" into the tree's above them covering a half kilometre in a couple seconds.

She could hear him following behind her and she grit her teeth determined to show him she was not the little girl she used to be.

Hiei was totally baffled with her actions. She seemed to be going to incredible lengths to put physical distance between them.

'No wonder, you idiot. You should have seen your face when Genkai suggested you carry her all the way out there! She's probably doing this for you! Thinking you'd rather gouge your own eyes out than come near her again.'

Hiei cursed himself. He knew she was going to tire herself out using her shunpo to get all the way out there, but he couldn't think of a way to get her to accept a ride.

As he tried desperately to find a way to tell her she didn't disgust or embarrass him, he kept getting distracted by the fact that she was in front of him flying through the trees, giving him a grade A view of that perfectly shaped ass.

'How could she think I was disgusted?' It was the total and complete opposite. The feelings se invoked in him were far from disgust. He continued to ogle her perfect ass, and toned thighs that tapered to long gracefully muscled legs until he almost ran into a stray tree branch that would have landed him very ungracefully on the forest floor. He growled softly and forced himself to focus on his footing.

But man she was making it hard. In more ways than one.

"Genkai, do you feel that?" Botan asked as she cleared the briefing table of its implements.

Genkai looked disturbed. "Yeah. I do feel it. I've been thinking I was going crazy all day but now that I know someone else is sensing it…" she trailed off.

"Feel what?" Keiko looked confused, and Yukina looked worried. She could feel it too.

"Come on lets try to find it." Genkai said.

"What is going on? Find what?" Keiko asked as she followed the other three women down the hall towards the bedrooms.

"Keiko it's a spirit signal, but a very old one. It is like a beacon that is intended to attract people with spiritual ability to its location. This one feels like holy power, which can only mean one thing." Botan said softly.

Keiko listened carefully and nodded. 'It's meant for Ayako, or Kagome. Or both.'

Genkai went into Ayako's room and Keiko followed. Botan and Yukina continued down the hall to Inuyasha and Kagome's room.

Genkai wrinkled her brow and closed her eyes. When she opened them she was walking towards Ayako's closet.

She began rummaging through the boxes until she found what she had been looking for.

Keiko's eyes widened as she looked at the glowing item in Genkai's hands. It was an old blanket. It looked very old and well used, but now it also seemed almost, urgent.

"Genkai I found something!" they heard Botan yell from a couple rooms down.

The four women met in the hallway and stared wide-eyed at the matching blankets. The only difference between them were the names, hand sewn on the front.

One said "Ayako" while the other said "Kagome".

Silently they walked back to the common room and spread the blankets on the table.

Genkai looked at Botan."You know what this is don't you." It wasn't a question.

Botan nodded. "It's a very old seal. It seems it has been signalling for a few months already but the seal itself has been damaged, so it has been undetectable until now."

Genkai looked thoughtfully at the two blankets. "Botan remember when I asked you to find some information on an old miko named Rui?"

The blue haired ferry girl nodded. "There wasn't much info. Only that she lived and died around here about 170 years ago. There's no way she is connected to Ayako and Kagome."

"It seems we are wrong about that." Genkai said quietly. "Botan can you release the seal please."

Botan nodded as she closed her eyes and brought her hands together in front of her chest. She mumbled some ancient sounding words then she clapped and shouted "Kai!"

The blankets rippled on the table and came together in a ball. Slowly a shape began to form. It seemed to be a chest of some sort. The blankets hardened and turned to wood. The chest clattered to the table and everyone in the room was silent.

Genkai leaned forward to open the chest.

"Shouldn't we leave it for them to open first?" Keiko spoke up suddenly.

Genkai shot her a strange look.

"I'm sorry Keiko, I know what you are thinking, but I am her adopted mother and this may tell us something vital about our two favourite miko. I can't risk leaving it until they get back." Genkai said calmly.

Keiko rolled her eyes knowing the old woman had the same amount of patience as her favourite man.

Genkai opened the chest and pulled out a sheaf of parchment, with some very old writing on it.

As Genkai read her eyes got wider and wider, until she groped for a chair and sat down hard.

Slowly the old woman passed the letter silently to Keiko who decided she'd sit, and began to read:

_My dear Kagome, my precious Ayako. You do not remember me, but I will forever remember you. If you are reading this then I and all my descendants who know of your heritage, are gone. When I found you lying on the bottom of that deep well, I discovered something that changed my life forever. You, my dears, are the "Daughters of Fate", the Kawaridane of the prophecy. _

"_On a cold clear night, with a full shining orb overhead, their will be born two daughters of fate, whom are neither human nor demon and will seek the destruction of all that is known to claim their birthright, and the Makai will forever be changed." _

_These words have been passed down through the centuries, and on the cold night of December fifth, I was out walking the compound when through the bone-eaters well, which has been known to spout out things of the past, came two baby girls whose energies were in total opposition in their own bodies. _

_So I did the only thing I could imagine doing. I took you in and warmed you by the fire, and sealed away your demon side. I'm afraid my actions were hasty and I was afraid that the Karyuudo would find you if I didn't disguise your energies. _

_I have done you a great disservice. I discovered shortly after sealing you that it could not be held forever and that when the seal breaks, your bodies will be thrown into turmoil. If you were allowed to grow up with the opposing energies flowing freely your bodies would have adapted and you would be living as you are now except with knowledge of your demon side. However, because you have grown to adulthood without the demon energy flowing within you, on your 21__st__ birthday it will be released and you will begin the Transformation. I will not lie. You may not survive such a violent change within you. The pain will be intense and may last for days. If you do not have the strength to bear it, then your body will give out and you will perish. If you can endure it I'm not sure what will happen to you. Inside this chest are two small pendants. Inscribed on them is your birthright. _

_My dears do be careful. The Karyuudo is a sect that will do anything to prevent you from fulfilling the prophecy. I hope you survive to do good things with your Birthright. _

_All my love,_

_Rui_

Keiko passed the letter along as she tried to swallow what she had just read. Her thoughts were brought back to the present as she saw Genkai pull out two small pendants from the chest. One was a brilliant green and the other a rich chocolate brown. They both seemed to shimmer with an eerie silver light.

Written on the brown pendant obviously intended for Kagome was the word "Karite", and on the green one intended for Ayako were the words "Uta no fuyu".

Keiko was studying them intently when Genkai passed her another, slightly newer looking piece of parchment. It wasn't addressed or signed. Keiko assumed it was written by a descendant of Rui's.

_The girls are now 145 years old and thus about to leave their infancy. I have done some research on the supposed birthrights and here is what I've found._

_The birthright is very simple. Two items one for each daughter. For Kagome is their father's holy staff The Karite (the reaper). _

_It is said to have legendary healing powers when in the hands of a powerful monk or miko, and terrible destructive power when in the hands of a demon. Thus making it incredibly valuable for Kagome because she is a Kawaridane and can use it for both. _

_The second is their mother's fang. Their mother was a great cat demon and thus her fang forged into a sword could have extraordinary features. Fortunately her mother forged it into a sword named Uta no fuyu (Song of Winter) before their death. All its attributes are unknown except that it has a life of its own and will teach its secrets to only those it deems worthy. _

_No such worthy demon has been found for it is destined for Ayako, and she is no ordinary human or demon. With these items they are destined to take back their mother's throne as Lady of the North in the Makai… which is of course under the control of Nikushimi. The demon that stormed the castle on the night of the twins' birth, killed their parents but failed to kill them. He is also the leader of the Karyuudo._

_He is currently in possession of the Karite and has the Uta no fuyu locked up in his stronghold as he cannot use it. _

_This is the information I have received to date. I fear it is too dangerous to try to learn more. I believe I will be discovered soon as the Karyuudo have caught an inkling in the air that the daughters of fate still live. Good luck._

"Holy shit." Keiko said softly.

"We need to get those two back here now!" Genkai practically shouted.

Keiko looked confused for only a second before it dawned on her.

They were running straight into the open arms of the enemy.

**Translation notes:**

**Shunpo – flash step**

**Kai – release**


	8. Ambush!

**AN: This one is for Nyuka on mediaminer . org. Thanks for the very entertaining review! I do not own IY or YYH**

**WARNING: Pay attention to the ratings. This chapter has darker themes. You have been warned.**

Ayako glanced at her watch. It was 9:50pm. 'Shit, we still have around 12kms to go.'

She was breathing heavily, her legs and arms shaking with the effort of using her shunpo for so long. 'Maybe this was a very bad idea.'

She glanced back and saw Hiei looking at her. 'Dammit I don't think he's broken a sweat! What the hell?' Ayako grit her teeth and called her powers forward with more intensity. 'I refuse to be the weak one here.'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

'How the hell do I get her to accept a ride? Baka onna is going to wear herself out and that will not be good when it comes to fighting outnumbered.' Hiei scowled.

He caught her eye as she looked back, and then what she did next confused him to no end. He could almost here her teeth clench and felt her powers surge as she took off faster than before.

'She is really desperate to put some space between us. Maybe she's the one who is disgusted.' His face fell.

'Since when do I care what a tiny onna thinks of me? If she is going to act like I don't exist I can play that game too.' Hiei scowled and shot past her, thinking… well not thinking at all really.

Neither of them were.

Hiei caught the scent of the enemy and quickly signalled to Ayako to mask their spirit energy and that they would stop on the tree about 800m ahead. He didn't wait to see her nod that she understood.

Hiei landed silently on the designated spot and half a second later Ayako was beside him. He could hear her heart pounding and see she was sweating profusely, but other than that she didn't look too tired. They both focused their attention on their prey settled below them, seemingly oblivious to their presence.

Hiei signed to Ayako, asking her the time. He watched her glance down at her watch and signed back to him.

It was 9:55pm. Five minutes till all teams would strike. Hiei nodded and began to size up the competition. Unfortunately for them they caught one of the groups who happened to have six hunters. Meaning a fight of 3 on 1 for each of them.

He glanced at Ayako to see her watching him intently. She knew he always decided who would go up against whom and she was anxiously awaiting his assessment.

Forgetting his anger and his previous promise to himself that he would keep his distance he brushed away a stray hair, which had fallen across her face, behind her ear. The look on her face was priceless. That look of silent anger and determination was gone, replaced with a look of utter confusion, and a rosy blush to top it off.

His heart swelled at the blush on her face and he smiled. A real smile, that said so much and yet too little.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako almost fell off the tree branch when he smiled at her. 'Holy shit! He can smile!' was all she could think of as she watched him turn his attention back to the enemy below.

She looked at her watch. 9:57pm.

Ayako scanned the area below and saw six lesser apparitions. Only two of which looked particularly dangerous. The other four definitely looked fat and slow. Knowing Hiei he would probably give her at least three of the fat guys. Although she had no objections to this she knew things didn't always work out the way you planned either. She took comfort in the fact that she could probably take out at least one if not two of the demons with her bow before they had to fight hand to hand.

She saw out of the corner of her eye that Hiei was signing for her to pay attention so she did.

She watched his hands intently as he gave her instructions.

_Try to take out at least two maybe three of them with your bow. After your position has been discovered, I will attack from the southern end of the clearing. I will take the two apparitions that appear most threatening. You will take the other two._

She nodded, letting him knew she understood. She watched as he didn't move away to his position yet. Instead he lagged behind and seemed to analyze her face carefully.

She could feel a blush rising again. A small smirk covered his face as he signed again.

_Be careful._

She looked stunned for only a moment before she leaned across and brushed her lips softly across his cheek and signed back.

_You too._

He looked like he swallowed his own tongue and she didn't wait for him to leave as she left first, taking up the best position to strike on her unknowing prey beneath her.

'I will prove to him I'm not weak.' She thought to herself as she felt the calmness of battle focus settle over her, and she didn't think again for awhile.

She looked at her watch and saw 9:59pm turn over to 10:00pm.

Taking a deep breath she formed her bow and all hell broke loose.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei sensed the surge in Ayako's holy energy as her bow was formed and then he felt something very bad.

More spirit energy signatures. From behind!?

Hiei swore to himself as he saw Ayako's targets fall. He smirked when he saw her take two at once and she even managed to get one of the tough guys in the upper thigh, making him howl in pain.

He cursed to himself. 'Shit Shit SHIT! She's going to expose herself and be ambushed! If we had waited even a spilt second longer we could've re-analysed the situation!'

He watched in horror as Ayako was forced from the tree branch she was on by a well placed sword slash across the trunk.

Hiei leapt into the fray and their original targets were gone with two swings of his sword. Hiei looked at Ayako and by the look on her face as she swung her sword across her last opponent's throat that she had sensed them as well.

'They were a diversion! How did they know we'd be here?!'

Suddenly there was no more room for thought. Ten demons, at least B class, had them surrounded in the clearing. Hiei could feel Ayako's laboured breathing as they stood back to back.

"Ayako, run, you can't handle these opponents." Hiei managed to pant out.

"Like hell Hiei. I thought you knew me better than that." He could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Dammit Onna this is no time for foolish pride! If I lost you…" his voice trailed off. He really didn't want to think about what would happen if he lost her now.

He could feel her shake her head. "Hiei I'm not weak. I will be fine. I promise. And once this is over we are having a very long talk."

Hiei chuckled, "You're insane woman. If you die I swear I will get Koenma to bring you back so I can kill you myself!"

He felt her laughed response, then the absence of warmth on her back as she was finally attacked from the left. Hiei could waste no more time worrying about her safety , as his own was in a tentative state right now.

'Oh Kami, let her be alright.'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako looked around at her opponents. She felt the first charge at her from the left and she easily side stepped him. She called her holy powers and used shunpo to get behind one of them and felt her katana slide easily through the flesh in his back and protrude through to his front. She leapt to her left as she yanked her katana free and delivered the finishing blow across his throat and felt his warm blood splash across the side of her face.

She took up her favourite fighting stance and looked at the other demons surrounding her.

"Bitch, who do you think you are? Taking on all four of us? You might as well begin begging for mercy now!" The one nearest her spat.

She smirked. "You're underestimating me. I love it. It will make it that much more fun to kill you."

She took a step towards Mr. Talkative and faked a swing at his ribcage, knowing he could easily dodge she swung her body around and caught him hard in the chest with her left foot. She tinged it enough with holy power that it left a shoe shaped burn mark on his chest and was smoking as he slid down the tree he connected with.

A hot burning sensation seared her right thigh and she swung around and parried a dagger about to be plunged into her back.

'I can't get cocky! Dammit. Rookie mistake!' She smashed the hilt of her katana into his face and his nose gushed blood, it was definitely broken.

The wound on her leg was bad. Probably nicked the femoral artery. 'Fuck. I can't lose because of a stupid mistake.' But despite her best efforts she began to see spots.

The battle became a blur, she was moving on instinct alone. She felt her katana slide across the soft flesh of the throat and knew another of her opponents was out.

The demon she had dubbed Gangly produced a katana of his own, and ran at her. She blinked trying to focus her eyes and barely managed to parry a blow that would have pierced clean through her abdomen. Her breath began coming in harsh pants.

She could feel her holy power was overly drained and cursed her own idiotic pride. If she had just accepted the ride out here, her holy power could've easily healed the seeping cut in her thigh that was giving her all this trouble.

The one whose nose she had broken, Nasal, came at her from behind and she had to choose quickly. She parried his dagger again and back flipped to avoid being decapitated by Gangly. Unfortunately for her, in her foggy state of mind she failed to notice her final opponent, who had yet to attack her. He took the moment of her imbalance as his best shot. She dodged at the last second, but not enough. She felt the blade tear deeply into her left side.

She stumbled to the side and lost her grip on her katana. 'Alright lets try some hand to hand. I will not lose!'

She used shunpo and appeared on the far side of the clearing, all three of her remaining opponents before her.

She took a deep breath and called her holy power to the surface.

'I don't have very much power left. I have to finish this up quickly or I am in real trouble.'

She took her stance with her left foot forward and her weight on her right. Her right arm flexed, fist resting on her right hip, her left extended in front palm out.

She felt the adrenaline of remembered hand to hand fights surge through her and she smiled. Her body liked this, and so did she.

"What the fuck are you smiling about bitch?!" Gangly shouted at her.

She continued to look at him, patiently awaiting their move.

"I'll wipe that smile off your face once I break you. You're a catch I'm sure the boys back at HQ would love to get their hands on for awhile. By the time they're done with you you'll be begging for the quick death we could've given you here."

She spat on the ground. "You talk too much."

"Fucking bitch!" He screamed as he ran at her.

She easily dodged his first attack, and thrust her left hand laced with her holy power into his exposed right side. He screamed in pain as his body was partially purified.

Her movements were like a dance as the other two came at her. She could feel there energy and easily dodged their clumsy punches, and amateur kicks.

Then a searing pain pierced though her right shoulder. From behind?!

There was something on the arrow that she could feel slowly spreading through her weakened body. She yanked it free and fell to her knees as she saw the culprit standing in a tree behind her and to the right about 200m away. She didn't recognize him, but her vision had started to blur. She felt like her face exploded when Gangly landed a hard blow across her face. She fell forward on her hands and spat blood onto the ground.

As she felt the poison spread, she also felt her holy powers leaving her grasp. 'Shit, it's sealing them from me! If I wasn't so low on power something as weak as this would be just an irritation I could purify in an instant!'

She was kicked hard in the stomach. She didn't know by whom, but it didn't matter. She was losing consciousness. The combination of blood loss and sealing her holy power away was seeping away the last of her strength.

One last blow across the face and the world around her went black.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei was breathing heavily. He threw off the pesky plants that one of the more skilled demons had called up to tangle his arms and legs.

He heard a strangled cry from the other end of the clearing and his heart sank. He looked around and saw only two opponents.

Hiei knew he'd only killed two so far which meant that the third had either run away or gone to attack Ayako. 'What the hell do they want with her?'

"Don't even think about goin' to her rescue buddy." No Teeth on the right sneered.

The smelly one on the left began to cackle. "She's goin back to the boss. He'll have lotsa fun with that pretty little ball of fire."

Hiei snarled, feeling rage begin to feed the flames inside him.

"There is no fucking way I'll let that happen." He spoke so low Stinky and No Teeth had trouble hearing his words. "If you two value your lives at all, I suggest you vanish. Quickly."

"What is she your GIRLfriend Small FRY?" Stinky cackled again. "You better take a good look cuz once the Boss is through with her there won't be no spark left in them pretty green eyes of hers!"

The air around Hiei seemed to bend outwards with the release of his power. The cloth covering his Jagan eye incinerated and as it flew open he could feel their fear.

No Teeth's laugh gurgled and died in his throat as Hiei dragged a clawed hand across it. Stinky finally stopped laughing and decided running was a good idea. But Hiei wasn't letting him get away. He threw his sword after the retreating apparition and Hiei's bloodlust surged with the sound of flesh being pierced and pinned to a tree.

Hiei glanced around the clearing desperately. Ayako was gone. He closed his eyes and allowed the Jagan eye to search for her spirit energy.

There it was. Already 20kms away, and faint. She was dying.

Hiei swore as he pulled his sword from the tree, and the lifeless body of Stinky. He was gone in a flash after Ayako's scent trail; it was easy to follow as it was dotted with her blood.

Hiei grit his teeth and tried to calm his pounding heart. 'Don't you dare die Ayako.'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako was awakened to a splash of cold water on her face.

"Wake up bitch." A voice called. She didn't know from where.

She was slapped in the face hard, and then she felt herself propped against a tree. Reality began to fall back into place. 'Shit, how the hell did I get myself caught?'

She scowled and looked around. 'Why aren't these apparitions being purified when they touch me?'

She reached her arm around to feel the wound in her side. It was still seeping steadily. Her vision was blurry.

'Shit I think I might be dying.' She felt her own blood soaking through her training suit. She was covered in it. 'I'm losing way too much blood.'

She refocused. Four of them. She recognized three of them as her opponents, Gangly, Nasal, and the quiet one. The fourth was unfamiliar to her.

Then she felt a sharp pain through her shoulder as Gangly squeezed the wound there. Hard.

She cried out and he laughed.

"Like our Boss's special drug for catchin Kawaridane? It suppresses holy powers. Though you don't seem to have much of a demon side. What the hell is wrong with you little Kawaridane?"

'Kawaridane? What the hell…' She thought, and the confusion showed on her face.

"Oi Dokuro, isn't she 'sposed to be half demon?" Gangly shouted at the unfamiliar man.

"It seems it has been sealed away as well. Most likely to protect her from our detection Husoki." He said impassively.

The man named Dokuro walked towards her, and she felt fear grip her. He was different. She could still feel spirit energy and the three idiots she had been fighting were nothing compared to him. His power likely came close to Hiei's.

He kneeled down before her and grasped her chin in his hands.

"Where is the other, Ayako?" She shuddered. 'How does he know my name?'

She shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He frowned. "Don't lie to me little one. I wouldn't want to have to turn you over to Husoki for awhile to loosen your tongue."

She grit her teeth and felt rather brave and stupid at the same time. "Even if I knew what you were talking about, I wouldn't tell you." She spat directly in his eye.

His face darkened as he slapped her hard across the face. She felt blood slide down her face and the inside of her cheek. She tasted the bitter metallic flavour of her own blood and spat it out on the forest floor.

She watched him wipe the spit off his face with a glove. "She doesn't seem very willing to talk. I'm going on ahead to report, I suggest you have some," he glanced at her his eyes darkening, "fun, with her and catch up to me quickly. We cannot be sure if the other two took care of her friend."

Her stomach turned over, realizing exactly what he meant by fun and she swallowed hard. The adrenaline was leaving her system. She began to feel the dull ache of pain from her various wounds.

'I've lost too much blood. Shit. I don't have to strength to break these ropes.' She struggled slightly as she watched Dokuro disappear into the forest. She couldn't even tell which direction. Her mind was too foggy.

"Time for that fun, little bitch. You're a tasty one for sure." Husoki was so close she could smell his rancid breath. He reached out to run a hand roughly down her cheek and she used the last of her strength to grab a hold of his thumb with her teeth and bite down hard. Husoki screamed as he felt her bite off his thumb.

She spat out the digit and the blood that had gushed into her mouth when it was severed from his hand. He struck her so hard her head smacked against the tree behind her and she was out cold.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei came upon the clearing and saw a demon standing over Ayako beating her repeatedly. She was covered in blood and the sight made Hiei's blood run cold.

The Jagan quickly probed her mind and he found her life force, though very weak.

Hiei let his power surge in front of him as he stood in the centre of the clearing.

"Get your filthy fucking hands off her." He snarled and the two demons turned to face the intruder.

The one that was holding Ayako up by her training suit let her body crumple back to the ground. Hiei saw he was missing a thumb and saw the digit lying on the ground next to Ayako's unconscious form. 'So she bit it off. That's my girl…' He smirked.

The other demon's eyes widened in fear and he ran. Hiei wasn't concerned.

"So you didn't die shorty." Husoki snapped. "Well I'll just have to take care of that so I can get back to my hot little piece of Kawaridane here."

'Kawaridane? Where had he heard that before?'

Husoki hoisted Ayako up to her feet and held her near his face. Her feet were off the ground and her body dangled lifelessly in his grip. He kept his eyes on Hiei as he ran his tongue up the side of her face.

Hiei felt his blood boil and knew the dragon on his arm was twitching to be released. He wanted to make this lowly piece of demon bleed for ever laying his dirty hands on HIS onna.

Husoki watched with growing fear as the air started to pop and crackle around the small apparition standing before him. He had one last moment of coherent thought to regret as he tossed the limp body of the girl to the ground and heard the demon speak.

"You will pay for touching MY onna. Run, it will make it that much more satisfying to hear you scream in fear as my dragon of the darkness flame crushes your bones." Hiei's eyes flashed red and the dragon was released from his arm.

Husoki stumbled backwards and began running. He didn't even make it to the edge of the clearing before he was devoured by the dragon.

His screams still echoed throughout the forest as the dragon settled itself on Hiei's right arm once again.

Hiei's expression turned from hatred and anger to fear and concern in a heartbeat as he ran toward Ayako's seemingly lifeless form.

He felt for a pulse and when he found a weak one he let out a small cry of relief.

Hoisting her tiny body into his arms he took off back toward the compound as fast as he could possibly go. Her blood was still seeping steadily from her wounds and he could feel how cold her body was now. Her face was drawn and pale. The spots of blood staining her face stood stark and obtrusive against her bruising skin.

'Don't die on me Ayako!' He cursed under his breath as the wind whipped across his body. 'Don't you dare die.'

**Hopefully not too cliffy. I may not update for awhile. It's getting harder to balance this story with my increasing workload at the University. I will try my best!**


	9. Death, An Enlightening Experience

**AN: A bit shorter of a chapter, sorry. The way things came out in this one, I feel I need more revision to the next bit, but I wanted to put one out today. So here it is. I don't own IY or YYH.**

_Ayako looked around her. She seemed to be standing in an unfamiliar forest. She could feel the tree she was leaning against but the air was so thick with fog she could hardly see the snow covered ground under her feet. _

'_It's very quiet here…peaceful. For some reason I feel like I'm… home.' Ayako shook her head. 'No this isn't the compound. That's ridiculous.' But despite that she couldn't shake the feeling. Then she heard, footsteps, crunching the snow. She crouched to prepare to defend herself if she needed._

_Finally two people came into view. A man. He looked to be in his early thirties, but Ayako knew if he was a demon he'd be much older. Why did she feel as if she knew this man? He stood around 5'11", about as tall as Yusuke, but he had light brown, curly hair, and sweet chocolate brown eyes. He wore what appeared to be ancient Monk robes of black and emerald green. His face was kind and warm, and she couldn't help but smile a bit back into that welcoming face._

"_Hello Ayako, it's been a very long time." He said in a smooth deep voice that shot through her._

_She didn't reply. She couldn't exactly speak at the moment. She was too much in awe of the beautiful woman that was standing next to him. She was petite. About Kagome's height, around 5'1"; still taller than Ayako herself. Her hair was brilliant silver like Inuyasha's but, somehow, it shone whiter and more pure. She had brilliant green eyes that seemed to glow with cunning intelligence. A small full mouth, set under a perfect nose, was curled in a small smile. Ayako could see fangs peeking out between her lips, and then glanced down at the woman's hands and found her fingers were tipped with short claws._

"_You don't have anything to say to your dead parents Ayako?" The woman asked with a smirk. _

_Ayako let those words fully sink as she slid down the tree to sit down on the forest floor, hard._

_The woman laughed good naturedly and the man turned towards his wife scolding. "Did you have to put it so bluntly Koshima? She's likely to have a small heart attack since she has no clue she's a hanyou." _

"_Oh relax Ayakougi-chan! She needs to find out sooner rather than later anyway. I was just having a bit of fun." The woman managed to smile and pout at the same time._

_Ayako watched their exchange silently, still trying to swallow this load of new information. 'I'm a Hanyou? Like Inuyasha? No way…"_

"_How about we focus on the fact that the only reason why one of our precious daughters is here and can see us is because she's dead!" The man said smirking to his wife._

"_Oh right! Ayako, darling you have to go back. It's not your time yet." Her 'mother' said with a gentle smile._

"_No way! Go back! I'm dead?! You're my parents?! Holy shit I can't handle that kind of information in 30 seconds!" Ayako began to hyperventilate (which is a strange phenomenon when you are a physical illusion of your own consciousness)._

_Her 'father' chuckled heartily. "Yes dear we're your parents. We've been watching you and your twin sister Kagome grow up. You will have all the explanation you need when you go back… now please... you must turn around. There is a certain man that I'm sure will be extremely upset if you cannot go back to him."_

"_I like him. He may be a bit fiery and pig-headed but that seems to be the way my girls pick 'em." Her mother smiled. "That boy of Kagome's sure is a handful." She winked at Ayako._

"_I think we can discuss the topic of our daughters' choice in men later, dearest." Her father grinned like a teenager._

"_But… I have so many questions…" Ayako could feel herself slipping back to the world of the living._

"_It's alright Ayako. Your dear friends and guardian have the answers. We will visit you again. Remember this, we both love you dearly and regret having to leave you so early in your life…" Her mother waved. Ayako could see tears staining her cheeks and her father had his arm around her. This last image of her parents remained until… what was that god awful noise?_

"What do you mean she's DEAD?!" Ayako knew that voice. Sounded like Hiei was pissed.

"I'm so sorry Hiei. I healed her as best I could! Her heart has stopped. You know I'd still be trying if there was anything I could do!" Botan was sobbing and her voice was muffled through her hands.

Ayako peeled her eyes open in time to see Hiei get up and stomp away. She heard rather than saw the demise of a near by tree, presumably from Hiei's fists. She managed to lift her right arm slowly. Pain shot through her shoulder to her neck. 'Well I think I broke my collar bone. Don't remember that happening.'

Ayako giggled softly to herself as she managed to rest her arm on Botan's leg.

Ayako heard a shocked gasp, which for some reason made her laugh harder.

"Oh… Kami help me." Botan stared at her battered friend who was supposed to be dead, but was instead giggling like a school girl who'd heard a dirty joke.

Ayako managed to calm down enough to speak, through intermittent giggles.

"Botan. What are you doing here? giggleI think I was dead. giggle I met my dead parents! hahaha they told me I'm actually a hanyou, and Kagome is my twin sister!" She snorted.

"And then I open my eyes. I think Hiei just punched a tree and I feel like I've been hit by a bus and dragged through glass and tossed off a cliff." She hiccupped and grimaced when it jerked her collarbone.

Botan stared at her through tear filled eyes listening to her 'used to be dead' friend babble away.

"Ayako. You're ALIVE!" Botan practically fell on top of her and was squeezing her in a desperate hug that crushed Ayako's lungs flat once again.

"B..Botan… air." Ayako wheezed.

"Oh sorry…"Botan still looked worried, like Ayako would go and die again if she didn't watch her.

Ayako laid back on the forest floor, and turned her head to look at Hiei. His face was unreadable as he stared at her. She knew he would've heard her when she first started to giggle yet he stood there still as a statue.

"Gomen Hiei. I was too weak from the shunpo to hold my own…" She looked away from him. "…gomen."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei heard Ayako's heart beat again just after his ears stopped ringing from taking out his frustration on the near by tree. The sound was music to his ears.

He stood there impassively as she began to giggle, then all out laugh hysterically. 'She's laughing?! She fucking DIED! How can that be funny?'

Hiei was pissed. Beyond pissed. He almost lost her, and that scared the shit out of him. He felt like someone had ripped out his heart when he watched Botan start to cry saying Ayako's heart had stopped.

A thousand thoughts raced through his head as he let the words sink in. He came to the harsh realization that, he loved her, and it was too late to say it. He was filled with such self-loathing for not being able to protect her.

He watched her turn her head towards him. "Gomen Hiei. I was too weak from the shunpo to hold my own…" She looked away from him. "…gomen."

Hiei's fists clenched painfully. Stupid, beautiful, strong, prideful onna! What the hell was she doing apologizing to HIM? The one who couldn't protect her, couldn't keep that low life demon from touching her, from breaking her bones and bruising her small body.

"You have nothing to apologize for…" Hiei said slowly through clenched teeth.

Hiei looked at Botan pointedly. "Botan I think she'll be fine now. Don't you think you should get on to Kagome as well? Let her know the news you told me?"

The ferry girl got to her feet quickly. She looked at Ayako then back at Hiei, knowing he must want to speak to her alone. She nodded. "Ayako, I'll see you back at the compound." And with that she was on her oar and off again.

Ayako was still staring at the dark sky as Hiei walked towards her. He fell to his knees beside her and gently gathered her into his arms.

He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled deeply. She smelled so good. Like sweat and trees and a slight hint of lemon from her shampoo. She also smelled of that filthy demon that almost killed her.

He would fix that.

He took off his long black cloak and wrapped it around her body. Her skin was still cold but with the bleeding stopped she was getting some colour back in her face. Or was that a blush?

Hiei chuckled. Of course it was a blush. He had just realized how much this onna meant to him, but he hadn't told her yet.

"I thought I told you if you died I'd get Koenma to bring you back so I could kill you myself?" Hiei smiled at her.

She seemed unable to form a sentence, so Hiei waited.

"Well get on with it then. It'll be better then feeling like my body has been drug through a meat grinder." She laughed softly.

He watched as she became more comfortable lying in his arms. He thought he could stay with her forever like this if he could. Keeping her safe and all to himself.

"What did Botan mean when she said she knew what I was talking about?" She finally managed to ask. "I thought I was just delirious. What am I?"

Hiei sighed. He really didn't want to tell her. He didn't want to think about it either. Not that he wasn't a small bit happy she was part demon, and noble at that, but the whole transformation bit and how she is actually one of the 'daughter's of fate' that are being hunted by an entire ancient society of demons. That part scared him.

He looked into her eyes and began to tell her everything Botan had told him as she worked on saving Ayako.

Ayako listened silently as everything began to fall into place. She now knew why Kagome and her had developed such a close friendship since Kagome's arrival a month ago. She knew who Rui was, and why she remembered such strange things about a miko's temple.

Her father was a powerful monk. Ayakougi. She was named after him. Her mother was a great snow leopard youkai. Lady of the North in the Makai. The combination of holy power and demon power in her heritage fulfilled the prophecy. She was the Kawaridane, well at least one of them. The unique hybrid that was written will do anything to claim her birthright; which happened to be the sword forged from her mother's fang. The Eika no Fuyu.

She watched as Hiei's mouth changed as he began to tell her of the transformation that would occur on her 21st birthday, or more correctly her 171st birthday. 'Wow I'm old.' She giggled quietly. Hiei gave her a bug-eyed look before continuing.

"This isn't funny Ayako. In the state you're in right now this transformation could kill you!" His voice was heated and she watched as a new emotion crept over his face.

'He's worried about me.' She felt her heart leap from her chest.

"Hiei." She wove her hand through the cloak he had wrapped her in and slipped her hand into his larger one.

He looked shocked. Then he relaxed. He gave her cold hand a small squeeze.

"I'll be ok Hiei. I'm tougher then I look right about now." She smirked, trying to sound confident when really the thought of more pain in her condition scared her too.

She watched as he grinned back at her, giving her his most condescending look. "A tough girl wouldn't have worn herself out because she was too prideful to accept a ride." He teased gently.

She scowled. "Had to bring that up again…" She tried to sit up a bit more and she winced.

"Don't try to get up baka. You'll start bleeding again and I know nothing of medical techniques." His words made her smile. There was no real scolding behind them. Just amusement.

She looked into his eyes and grinned. "Well then boss. Maybe we should head back to the compound. I'm definitely looking forward to a warm fire right about now."

He continued to stare at her. She watched awestruck as he began leaning in. Her heart started to pound. He was going to kiss her. She remembered the last time he'd done this she was left hardly being able to stand up. 'Good thing he's holding me up then..' She stifled a giggle.

His lips brushed over hers gently. She felt the warmth spread from her lips to the tips of her fingers and toes. He broke away and she pulled him back, not wanting something so gentle and sweet to end. She licked his lips, letting him know just what she wanted. He let her into his mouth as his warm breath mingled with her own. She moaned into the kiss, feeling the want begin pulling at her insides.

They broke the kiss and Hiei pressed his forehead to hers. They were both panting softly.

"I don't know how you do this to me onna, but I don't want it to stop." He whispered huskily.

"Maybe once I'm all healed up I can show you how much I don't want you to stop…" She whispered back. Astonished at her own bravery.

He leaned back enough to look down at her; his eyes wide as saucers. He stood up slowly.

"You can't say stuff like that. I have half a mind to keep that promise right here in this clearing…" She watched his face grimace with restraint and laughed at him.

"Sorry. Picture Kuwabara naked." She watched his face twist with disgust and laughed harder.

"You have an interesting way to kill the mood." He chuckled down at her as he leapt into the trees.

She smiled as she leaned into his chest. His heart beat lulling her to sleep as he ran back to the compound. She thought as her mind drifted to sleep, 'Well I guess dying is one way to get a guy to open up.'


	10. Transformation Begins

**AN: Here we go with Chapter nine! Hope you like it. I do not own IY or YYH.**

Hiei cast one last look at the tiny sleeping form before turning and quietly sliding the door shut. He heard the voices of his comrades in the main room, discussing this new turn of events. Everyone was shocked at the news but had admitted to feeling something strange while around the two miko.

Hiei shook his head. No one could've predicted this. Not in a million years. They thought they were human. Both he and Kurama knew they were just as human as Genkai or Keiko.

'I guess we were wrong.'

Hiei emerged in the main room and looked around him. Everyone was there; including Shizuru whom he'd heard had a close call with the enemy. Keiko said something about a demon that could prey on superior awareness. Hiei noticed that Kurama was very tense. He could almost feel the quiet rage emanating from his red-haired friend. For once Hiei actually understood that feeling.

"So today was pretty much a swift kick to the family jewels eh?" Yusuke announced.

He managed to get some smirks and grunts of agreement.

"Alright everyone, listen up. Tomorrow is December 5. It's about 10am right now." Genkai looked down at her watch and continued. "Both Ayako and Kagome are going to undergo their transformations sometime tomorrow. The amount of energy released by the seal breaking is going to be too much for the humans around here, so as a precautionary measure, Botan and I have scoped out a cavern about 20 km North of here."

Hiei tensed. He knew Genkai knew of his disposition towards Ayako but would she reveal t everyone by putting him in charge? What was he talking about? If she didn't put him in charge of her he'd volunteer. Screw his pride she could die from this in her condition.

"Inuyasha, I assume you have no problem being with Kagome through the transformation." Genkai looked at the silver-haired hanyou.

Inuyasha simply nodded and tightened his grip around his mate. Kagome tried to smile and failed. She was just as worried about Ayako as everyone else.

"I have asked Kurama to watch over Ayako and he has agreed. Now Kurama you know that she is-"

"Kurama will not be going." Hiei blurted out before he could stop himself.

Genkai looked over at him not surprised in the least. 'That HAG! She knew I was going to make an ass of myself. She wants me to confront the group about this. Sneaky old bitch.'

"Why the hell not Hiei? It's not like you want to go babysit some human girl." Yusuke glared at Hiei.

"Hn.." Hiei replied.

"No no, don't give me that shit Hiei, you've been acting like a pissed off stray cat around everyone the past few weeks, and it all started when you had to train Ayako. Now to me that says you have some sort of problem with her. What the hell is it?" Yusuke continued angrily.

"He doesn't have a problem with her." That thin raspy voice came from Shizuru.

Yusuke glared at her ready to turn his built up frustration on her until he saw the look Kurama was shooting him. Yusuke looked away and took a deep breath.

"What do you mean sis?" Kuwabara spoke up.

Shizuru looked at Hiei curiously. Hiei glared back. "What I mean is… Hiei doesn't **dis**like Ayako."

Hiei watched as faces around the room gained that enlightened look. Kurama, Shizuru and Genkai already had that smug knowing look.

Apparently Yusuke was just slower than the rest.

"What the hell does that mean he doesn't dislike her?" Yusuke practically shouted in frustration.

"Stop yelling Dimwit you'll wake her up." Genkai glared at her student. "Our grumpy fire apparition friend doesn't dislike Ayako. In fact he is very concerned for her well-being. More than just concern for a comrade."

Yusuke took a minute to swallow that information. The entire room noticed the instant the light bulb went on over his head.

"You mean he LOVES her?!" Yusuke practically screamed.

Everyone in the room shushed him and Hiei glanced back down the hall to where he could still sense Ayako sleeping. He then turned toward the taller man and glared daggers at him.

"Say something you dwarf! Do you love her?" Yusuke said in a dangerously low voice.

"Hn... I do not need to answer to you spirit detective." Hiei replied simply.

Yusuke began pacing the floor, mumbling to himself. Hiei knew that Yusuke was very protective of Ayako. Over the years together they had become as close as siblings.

"Listen shorty. Tell me what your intentions are to my little sister." Yusuke said evenly. "Now."

Hiei considered it. What was the difference anyway? They all knew! They just wanted to hear him say it.

"I don't see how this concerns you. You are not her brother." Hiei said quietly. Boy was he gonna regret that statement.

"Oh yeah? Then how would you react if some grumpy, irritable no good appartition decided to fool around with … oh I don't know… your sister, Hiei." Yusuke looked so angry he was about to pop a blood vessel on his forehead.

Hiei's eyes went wide. Yukina was right here in the room! How dare he say that! It's not his right to reveal his secret. It seemed Yusuke was willing to go that far. Hiei regained his composure until he heard a voice across the room.

"Hiei has a sister?" Yukina leaned toward Botan and asked quietly. Botan didn't answer. She was watching the exchange between Yusuke and Hiei intently, along with everyone else in the room.

"I want to hear what your intentions are with my little sister or I will tell her." Yusuke said evenly. "I'm not bluffing."

He's bluffing. He HAS to be! Hiei glanced at Yukina, she was watching him closely and he quickly looked away.

The seconds ticked past and Hiei was considering just blurting it out. NO! He wouldn't expose his private affairs with the spirit detective just because he was threatening him.

Then Hiei watched as his life changed drastically.

"Yukina. You know that long lost brother of yours? Well he isn't lost. Hasn't been for sometime." Yusuke looked at Hiei and knew he was about to get into a fight.

It took about half a second for Yukina to make the connection. She gasped and looked around the room. No one was looking at her. Everyone knew but her. She looked at Hiei and tears began to fill her eyes.

Hiei watched, stunned, as Yukina gained the look of understanding. Next thing he knew she was staring at him; this angry pleading in her eyes. He watched as the tears built and began to fall. She ran quickly from the room showering jewels as she ran.

Hiei looked at Yusuke and saw what looked like regret on his face. He watched as Keiko got up off the couch and walked up to Yusuke. She slapped him in the face, hard. Then she quickly followed the trail of jewels out into the cold December night.

Hiei didn't even feel like ripping Yusuke limb from limb anymore. That slap said it all and he watched as Yusuke walked slowly to the briefing table and sat down hard.

"I'm sorry Hiei. I thought…" Yusuke didn't really know what he thought, but at that moment all he knew was he made the innocent, beautiful, sweet Yukina, cry.

Hiei knew this day would eventually come. He had decided he would tell her himself, soon. He kept putting it off.

Watching Yukina start to cry because of him and because of his selfish desire to keep it from her made him understand Yusuke's position.

"I do love your sister spirit detective…" Hiei said quietly and vanished.

Yusuke hung his head and everyone sat in silence.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei watched from his tree branch as Keiko comforted Yukina. Yukina kept asking Keiko why they'd all kept it a secret. All Keiko could say was it was what Hiei wanted.

Hearing her say it over and over again sent a feeling like an ice pick shooting through his stomach. He'd had enough of this. He'd have to answer to her himself.

Keiko looked up to see Hiei standing at the entrance to the gazebo. She looked down at Yukina and patted her arm before she ran back into the house, leaving Hiei and Yukina alone.

It seemed that she'd finally stopped crying; although there was quite the pile of jewels at her feet. Hiei looked off to the left towards the house.

"You can't even look me in the eye now?" He heard her small voice say.

His eyes widened and he looked at her. Her face was impassive. Not angry, not sad, not anything. He'd never seen her like that.

"I only have one question for you Hiei, and our relationship from now on will be based on how you answer it." She said evenly.

Hiei nodded.

"Why didn't you answer Yusuke about your feelings toward Ayako?"

The question floored him! He thought she would ask him 'why?' and 'how could he?' and he had answers and excuses out the butt for those questions. But this one?

She watched him patiently. He decided he'd go with the most truthful answer.

"I didn't feel that I needed to justify my feelings towards her to him. He was trying to make me spill my guts on private affairs and I want to keep the knowledge of my feelings towards her to a minimum! For Kami's sake I told him as I left to come find you that I loved her. And I do! But hell SHE doesn't even know that yet." Hiei looked at the floor again, angry at himself for his own weakness in this situation.

He waited as she sat there in silence. When she looked him in the face again he could see the hint of a smile in her eyes.

"I could tell you loved her." She said quietly.

Hiei continued to wait. Not sure what that statement meant in regards to their current predicament of him lying to her for the past 6 years.

"Come sit with me Hiei. I want to hear all about you and how you knew we were siblings and I do want you to tell me why you kept this from me…" Yukina watched as he slowly sat next to her warily. She laughed. "I won't bite! Honestly I'm more excited than anything else to have finally found my brother. And knowing you, you probably kept it from me to protect me…"

Hiei's eyes widened in shock. Was he that transparent?

She laughed again. "Ok Hiei. Start at the beginning."

Hiei began talking. He didn't stop until Keiko called them in for lunch. They ate on the gazebo and talked about everything. By the time darkness fell Hiei's jaw hurt from talking so much.

"I have another question although this one is going to be different." Yukina smiled at him.

"Alright, what is it?" He asked, amused at the look on her face.

"Now that I know you are my only living relative that I care to associate with, will you please give Kuwabara permission to court me? I know he is going to ask and I bet he is shaking just thinking about it. You may be small Hiei but you are intimidating, even to me!" She watched his expression change from amused to thoughtful with a bit of a scowl.

Let that oaf date his sister? Now he really knew why Yusuke shot off the handle so much at him. Kuwabara was a big goofy lump. He was annoying and foolish most of the time. He scowled.

But he was also a very loyal and dedicated friend and comrade. He was also smarter than he looked and had always treated Yukina like gold.

Hiei sighed. "Yes, ok I'll give him permission. But he still has to ask for it! And don't you go telling him I'll say yes. I want to see him squirm."

Yukina giggled and nodded. "Ok, ok but that should be some form of cruel and unusual punishment."

"Hey you two! We need to get things prepared for tonight! Hiei you love bird! That means you need to come get debriefed too! Especially if you're gonna be watching over my little sister and making sure she doesn't die!" Yusuke sounded amused yet deadly serious.

Hiei and Yukina both nodded and made their way back into the house.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"Alright you two, listen up." Genkai looked pointedly at Inuyasha and Hiei. "The cavern is here, we've used it in the past as a camp out spot so the mats and stores of food should still be there. You may need to gather more firewood, but I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Now according to the information Botan got about this sort of thing you need to expect some… violent… changes. Meaning you may have to defend yourselves and restrain them once their demon energy floods theirs systems." Genkai took a drink of water.

"Hiei, Ayako is a delicate situation. Her body is mostly healed but she is still very weak. Her holy energy is very low. When the demon energy floods her system the results may be more violent than Kagome." Hiei and Inuyasha both seemed a bit confused at this so Genkai continued.

"In the normal case, Kagome has her full compliment of Holy energy to help dampen the effects of the transformation on her body. She will most likely become violent as well but not to the extent that Ayako will because she doesn't have all her holy energy to counteract the change." The two demons nodded.

"Other than that I have no more information about this. According to the scroll left by Rui, the transformation could last hours, even days. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that Ayako will most likely not live through this if it last longer than two days." Hiei's stomach clenched.

"Well boys I suggest you move out. Its 9:00pm now, expect the transformation to begin sometime after midnight. If you hurry out there you can settle in before this snowstorm that's supposed to set in tonight."

With that they were off to gather their things and head out. Ayako was still sleeping but Hiei could sense her stirring. 'Good. She probably recovered quite a bit today. Hopefully it's enough.'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako felt the cold wind bite through her parka as she snuggled closer into Hiei's back. She had been sleeping all day and she felt pretty good. She was still fairly weak, but all her bones had healed and her bruises were on their way out as well. They had given her a brief run-down of what to expect and she was nervous.

She shook her head. It did absolutely no good to dwell on it. She would be fine. She was strong.

The thing that really shocked her today was that apparently there was a fight, she had no idea what about, but Yukina now knew Hiei was her brother. Ayako had tried to ask Hiei what the fight had been about but he kept dodging her questions.

Sneaky, grumpy, sexy fire apparitions…

Ayako smiled to herself as she thought back to that kiss in the woods. She shivered.

"You alright?" Hiei asked her quietly, he felt her shivering and was concerned she would freeze before they even made it to the cavern.

"I'm fine Hiei. You're warm." She snuggled closer.

Hiei swallowed hard. 'How did she constantly do this to his body? It was absolutely not fair.'

"I see the entrance to the cavern ahead!" Inuyasha shouted back over his shoulder at Hiei, who nodded his understanding.

Ayako sat next to Kagome at the fire the boys had just made. They continued to buzz around gathering the blankets for the mats and firewood for a few days from outside. A storm was coming in tonight and even if the transformation only lasted 12 hours they may be stuck there for a few days afterword.

Ayako began feeling dizzy. "What time is it?"

Kagome looked at the watch they had brought along. "It's 11:30pm. We shouldn't start until midnight."

"Is it possible for time to shift over hundreds of years?" Ayako was sweating and her limbs had begun to shake.

Kagome's eye's widened fearfully. They hadn't considered that! "I-I don't know Ayako… are you alright?"

Ayako shook her head; she began rocking slowly along with the shaking, when she looked Kagome in the face her reaction spoke louder than words.

Kagome watched as Ayako's green eyes began to flash intensely, and watched as her pupil's began changing shape; to those of cat eyes.

"Hiei! Ayako is starting NOW!!" Kagome practically shrilled, as she began to sweat and shake herself.

"What? It's not time yet…" Hiei trailed off at the sight that met his eyes. Ayako was curled up on the floor of the cave, sweating profusely and shaking uncontrollably. Off to the side he could see Kagome in the exact same position.

Hiei cautiously knelt beside Ayako and placed his hand on her shoulder; she looked up at him and spoke so quietly he had to strain to hear her.

"Don't.. let me… hurt you … or anyone else" She gasped and he saw small fangs begin forming in her mouth. "I'm not sure… how… long I can… hold on." She grit her teeth and screamed in pain, writhing on the floor in front of him.

He watched as she looked at him again, except this time he knew, Ayako was no where in those vibrant green eyes that sized him up.

It was like looking at a wild animal, who really wanted to kill you.


	11. New Hanyou Tricks

**AN: Lemony goodness in this chappy. I hope it did it ok. My first time writing a Lemon. Let me know! I'm still unsure about the rules on ff . net and I don't want to be kicked off so I am submitting the edited version there, and the lemony one on, aff . net and mediaminer . org. The link is in my profile. Thanks!**

Ayako hissed at him; her newly formed fangs long and threatening. Hiei braced himself to restrain her. She was on all fours on the opposite side of the fire, pacing back and forth. Inuyasha had already taken Kagome to the other side of the cavern. It sounded like he was in a similar situation.

Hiei watched as Ayako sized him up. Hiei guessed the transformation might be a progressive one, going from a very basic instinctual demon to a gradually higher order thinking and functioning demon, but as for how long this would take, he had no idea.

Without warning she leapt at him, her newly formed claws outstretched and ready to rip across his jugular vein. He managed to deflect her and she landed hard behind him and skidded into the wall with a forlorn growl.

Hiei winced. He hated this! He had no choice but to defend himself but he was hurting her!

She got back on all fours and circled around him. Her first attempt at her prey had failed. Another angle of attack was necessary.

Hiei watched her intently. He was confident he could hold her off for now. But right now this version of demon Ayako was like a young leopard, and as time goes on she will gain more cunning and then it will be harder to hold her off.

Hiei felt a claw dig into the back of his thigh. He didn't even notice how quickly she managed to slip behind him and almost sever his hamstring.

'Kami this onna is dangerous…'

Hiei whirled around to face Ayako, ignoring the blood pouring from his leg, for now. What he saw surprised him. She seemed to be waging an inner war. Her face was contorted and he watched her as he could feel the demon energy flowing off her in waves. He gasped as she grabbed onto either forearm with her hands and sunk her claws in.

The pain seemed to break the battle and Ayako slunk to the floor panting. Her claws retracted and her fangs shrunk. She looked up at him weakly and grinned.

"Feisty bitch eh?" She chuckled.

Hiei's eyes were as wide as saucers. This woman was incredible.

"Did I hurt you?" She asked in a raspy voice that didn't quite sound like her own.

Hiei just shook his head slowly.

"Then why are you dripping?" She quirked a smile at him.

Hiei jumped. 'Oh yeah my leg.'

"Hn.. this is nothing. But since it doesn't look like you want to rip my throat out right now, I'll bandage it. How about your wounds?" Hiei asked cautiously.

When she got into her cocky strong- girl moods, suggesting she needed tending could sometimes cause furniture to be thrown at him.

She grimaced. "Ah don't bother yet. I have a feeling we'll need to focus our bandage supply on the real big bleeders."

She looked down at her forearms, they were barely bleeding anymore. She silently blessed this new demon energy and the wonderful resilience it gave her.

Hiei kept one eye on her as he tended the deep cut in the back of his right thigh. He sensed when she fell asleep. He smiled at how peaceful she looked. Her new hanyou features were beginning to show through as well.

Her hair had grown a full 4 inches since this began and he had an idea that it wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. Not to mention the tips of her hairs were taking on a lighter shade then her copper brown. Her eyes had maintained that icy green hue and her arms had picked up a ghosted image of a leopard's spots.

He hadn't thought this woman could get anymore beautiful, but again he was wrong.

He finished tying the bandage around his leg and settled himself against the wall. She would most likely wake up again soon and begin attacking him again.

Hiei sighed. This was going to be a long night.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

_18 hrs later_

Hiei glanced at the watch in his hand. It was almost six pm. Hiei was covered in small and large wounds. Ayako as well had needed attention throughout the hectic night and morning. She was sleeping again, but this time it was worse. She was shaking, and she was developing a fever.

Hiei wasn't in great shape himself. She had gotten him good last time. It seems her demon energy brings along a convenient power involving ice.

Hiei actually had to fight her using his fire energy in contrast. Luckily the fact that she is a hanyou limited her stamina. Otherwise, he would've been in very big trouble. Her mother **was** the Lady of the North, in the Makai.

Hiei sighed. 'Shoulda guessed her energy would be powerful.'

He had almost lost control of the dragon. He could not let that happen no matter what. He clenched his fist and glared at the shape of the dragon on his arm. This evil thing would get no where near his onna.

Hiei sensed her waking again. This time it was different. So far every time she fell asleep she had been Ayako and when she woke she was demon Ayako. This time it was Ayako again.

"Hiei?" Her voice was hoarse from growling.

"I'm here." he got up and knelt beside her shaking form, still cautious of her demon side.

"I… I think it's done." She smiled weakly at him and huddled farther into her blankets.

"Are you sure? How do you know?" Hiei asked anxiously. He desperately wanted to hold her and begin treating her fever before it got really bad.

"Before… I could feel the demon side as a different being. As it progressed the demon side became smaller and smaller. It's not there anymore." She coughed. "It's fully absorbed into me."

Hiei let out the breath he'd been holding and gathered her into his arms.

"Thank Kami." He buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath. She smelled hanyou to him now. He could also feel her opposing energies in her aura. It was a very strange aura, but beautiful at the same time.

She wiggled a bit to look him in the face more directly.

"So…?" She asked.

Hiei was puzzled. "So what?"

She laughed. "How do I look Hiei? I know I'll have changed but all I can tell is that I have faint spots on my arms, and probably other places… my mouth has fangs and I keep biting my own tongue by the way… and I think my hair is longer. By a lot."

Hiei grinned. She was right about the hair. It came down to her butt, easily. It still was curly, but softer and larger curls than before. And the tips of her hair had blanched, turning a brilliant white silver colour.

"You hit the nail pretty much on the head. But I'm not going to tell you. You go back to sleep. Get rid of this pesky fever of yours and then we can go back to the compound and you can see a mirror." Hiei grinned at the pouty look she gave him.

"Mean, sneaky, sexy fire demons…" she mumbled as she closed her eyes.

Hiei tried his best not to laugh at that, as she was already asleep. He leaned back against the cave wall and closed his eyes.

Inuyasha and Kagome had settled a few hours ago. It had only lasted 18 hours.

Hiei felt himself drift off as well. He fought but it was a losing battle. Being up all night fighting a leopard demon will do that to a guy.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako opened her eyes slowly. The first thing that met her eyes was Hiei's sleeping face. She grinned.

He looked so cute when he was asleep.

She sat up slowly. Her fever had dissipated and she felt like a million bucks.

She wrapped a blanket around her as she tucked Hiei in with the other one. 'He's going to wake up with a sore ass.' She giggled at that thought and the mental picture that came with it, of Hiei walking around with his butt still asleep.

Ayako found the entrance to their cozy cavern and moved the flap aside to look out. She had no idea what time it was but she guessed fairly early. It was still dark, though she could see it was lighter towards the eastern horizon. The storm had stopped sometime during the night, and there was at least a foot of snow on the ground. She noticed the cold didn't affect her like it did before. Seeing it had always made her smile, but now she wanted to roll in it and play. Like a kitten.

She smiled. Her mother was a snow leopard demon. This affinity for snow and cold weather must come from her.

She decided she'd have to hold off on the playing in the snow. If Hiei woke up and found her gone, he may have an aneurism. She giggled to herself.

"What's so funny onna?" a deep, amused voice came from directly behind her.

She almost leapt out of her skin. How did he still manage to sneak up on her? She had heightened senses and everything now!

"I will always be able to sneak up on you onna." He breathed on the side of her neck and she shivered. His closeness was going to her head, along with this new scent her body was reacting to. Male demon. A very close male demon. A very close, aroused, male demon. She was very quickly losing her composure.

He turned her around in his arms. Now she knew why he always looked so strained around her lately. The smell of arousal was very powerful, compelling her more primal demon side to act, and act NOW.

She leaned up and into him as his lips met hers gently. He kissed her over and over again. So gentle and teasing it made her want to scream. Finally he gave her what she wanted. He plunged into her mouth, lightly biting her lip with his fangs. She returned the favour, being extra careful, as she wasn't used to them yet.

She could feel his arousal pressed into her abdomen, and she pressed her hips against him letting him know exactly what she wanted.

She heard him gasp and he latched onto the side of her neck hard. She could feel him growl as he tried to regain some control.

"Now is not the time for control… Hiei." She whispered in his ear.

He gripped her backside hard and lifted her against him. He carried her this way back to their secluded room. He kneeled down and laid her out on the mat gently.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

They lay there in each others arms, spent and happy. Ayako smiled. He looked so cute when he wasn't scowling.

"Hey GUYS?! Are AYAKO and KAGOME… OK?"

There heads both shot up from the pillow and they scrambled for there clothes.

Ayako giggled as she dug frantically through her bag for a yukata.

"This is funny to you onna? That is Yusuke and if he would've walked in five minutes ago he would've heard you screaming MY name and he would probably be trying to kill me at this moment!" Hiei hissed at her.

She giggled harder as she covered up and tried to make her hair look like she hadn't just been fucked. "He wouldn't kill you!"

"Hah… onna I said TRY to kill me… there's a difference." Hiei smirked at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him as she quickly bolted from the room… intending to give Hiei more time to clean up while she distracted Yusuke with just how OK she was.

Hiei shook her head as he heard Yusuke shout happily and then grimaced as he heard Yusuke's reaction to that new courting mark on her neck.

'Shit forgot about that.' Hiei sighed. 'Ayako won't know what it is either. I guess it's time to face the music.'

Hiei cast one last look at the mess they had made before he followed his declared to face her irate half demon brother.


	12. The Great Escape

**AN: Hey this one isn't a songfic but it may help if towards the end you turn on "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance. I was listening to it while writing and it pretty much inspired this entire chapter.**

**I own nothing… sad. **

When Yusuke saw Hiei his face seemed to get even redder, than the pleasant shade of ripe tomato it was now. Hiei had to dodge a couple of swings before Ayako finally managed to clamp onto his arm so that he couldn't move it around, less he go about swinging his younger sister around the room.

"I'm… gonna … kill you … Hiei." Yusuke managed to get out between pants.

"Hah. You couldn't if you tried spirit detective." Hiei snorted.

Ayako shot him a look that clearly said he wasn't helping. She forced Yusuke to sit against the side of the cavern then walked back towards Hiei.

"Umm Hiei… what is this mark on my neck?" Ayako whispered to him. "Yusuke flipped when he saw it. I think he knows…"

Hiei shot her a look that was clearly a 'No shit…'

Hiei sighed. "It's a courting mark. In demon terms, it means I have officially claimed my intentions toward you."

Ayako stood stunned for a moment. "Oh. Weird." She rubbed her neck where the bruise was fading to be left with a small black flame.

Ayako looked at Hiei and started searching his neck.

"Onna what are you looking for?" Hiei watched her, amused.

"I bit you back…" she blushed, "I want to see what it looks like."

Hiei pulled the collar away from her mark on his neck. The bruise she had left was already gone. In its place was a small almost invisible snowflake. When Hiei moved it caught the light and it shone a white silver colour.

He let go of his collar and the mark was hidden once more. Ayako grinned.

"What's so funny onna?" Hiei asked with a quirked eyebrow.

She tried to cover her laugh behind her hand. "Sorry Hiei. It's just… I never thought you were the type for sparkles…" She couldn't hold it in anymore and she burst into a fit of giggles.

Hiei scowled. Honestly if he didn't love this pesky onna so much he would be much less impressed with the mark himself.

Yusuke got up and walked towards them. He seemed calmer but Hiei was still keeping his distance.

"Alright dwarf… you can date my sister… not like you asked," He shook his head. "But I can overlook this incident." He looked at Ayako then back at him. "I really don't want to think about what I could've walked in on so how bout you go wake the other two and we can head back to the compound now… everyone is really anxious about this."

With that he walked outside to wait for them.

Ayako looked at him and made a face. Hiei chuckled.

"I'll go get Inuyasha and Kagome. Why don't you go pack up the rest of our things?" Ayako smiled and Hiei grabbed her and pulled her into his arms before she could walk past him.

She wrapped her arms around his back and he wrapped his own around her shoulders. She fit so perfectly there. He nuzzled into her hair and inhaled deeply. Her personal scent was intermingled with the scent of sweat, sex and him. It was a beautiful combination.

He pulled back so he could look at her face. She watched him intently knowing he wanted to say something.

"I… think I love you… Ayako." She smiled.

"I think I love you too, Hiei." He grinned.

He never imagined it would feel like this when she actually said it back. He could feel the mark on his neck respond to her extreme emotions. He bent slightly and kissed her forehead, her cheeks, and finally her lips. It was sweet and gentle and the mark warmed pleasantly, and continued to tingle when he broke the kiss.

She stood back from him and licked her lips. She took a deep breath.

"You can't kiss me like that and expect me to not want to throw you down on the mat in there and have another go." She whispered heatedly.

Hiei laughed. He was actually feeling very much the same way but the thought of leaving Yusuke outside that long while they did that again… it was amusing to say the least.

Ayako seemed to regain her composure. "Go pack are stuff… geez. I gotta go wake my sister and her hanyou man toy." And with that she had escaped his grasp and was lost from sight.

Hiei sighed and looked down at himself. 'Damn onna and her tricks.' He adjusted himself to be more comfortable with how much smaller his pants had just gotten and stalked off to the room to pack their things.

Ayako heard moving around as she approached the area where Inuyasha and Kagome were. 'Thank Kami they're already up. I really did not want to walk in on something…'

"Hey guys! Yusuke is here and he wants us to hurry back!" She called ahead. "Are you decent?"

Kagome chuckled. "Yeah, we're all packed here Ayako."

Ayako came around the corner and saw the two of them eye her up curiously. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks as Inuyasha gave her a sly look.

"What? Geez stop looking at me like that." Ayako was blushing furiously now. She almost matched the shade of tomato red Yusuke had earlier.

"I'm going to go outside and wait with Yusuke. Don't be too long." Inuyasha said, and grinned at Ayako as he walked out of the room towards the exit.

Ayako watched him walk away for a moment then turned to find Kagome was staring at her. Intently.

"Oh Hiei! Harder! Faster! OH!" Kagome mocked, and burst out laughing.

Ayako looked shocked for only a moment before she hid her face behind her hands.

"Oh come on Ayako! It's funny!" Kagome seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Not if it was you…" Ayako's voice was muffled as she peeked through her fingers.

"It's all in good fun. Besides I'm actually happy for you. It's about time you two stopped acting like pissed off cats in heat around one another." Kagome shrugged and attempted to peel Ayako's hands off her face.

Ayako let her arms drop and hung her head. "Did I really say that? Was I that loud?"

Kagome laughed again. "Yeah you really did and yeah you really were. Must have been good."

Ayako smiled. "I didn't know you could feel like that."

"Yeah but you know. You'll only feel that type of connection with one person. Do you know what I'm talking about?" Kagome asked, more seriously.

"I think so… I'll have to try it more to really solidify that feeling though." Ayako managed to squeak out before she burst into a fit of giggles.

Kagome joined her in giggling and they walked together out of the cavern.

When they came into the daylight the sun was shining off the snow and for some reason all the boys were squinting. Kagome and Ayako were still giggling softly to themselves.

Hiei and Yusuke looked puzzled, while Inuyasha grinned. He knew what they were laughing at.

"Kagome I'm glad to see you're alright." Yusuke said. "How the hell can you girls not be squinting right now? It feels like the glare off the snow is burning my retinas!"

Ayako stopped giggling and looked around. It was bright, but for some reason she didn't feel the need to squint.

"Baka. They are half snow leopard. It's genetics." Hiei scoffed.

Yusuke scowled. "Don't give me a reason OTHER than you sleeping with my little sister to want to pound your cocky little head into the ground Hiei…"

"Hn… I'd love to see you try." Hiei shot back darkly.

"Boys… come on! Enough of the sweet talkin we have to get back to the compound sometime today." Kagome called from a ways ahead.

The two men cursed and took off after the rest. Now that Ayako and Kagome were completely hanyou they wanted to test they're new found strength and stamina. They were running flat out and they managed to make it back to the compound in just over 20 minutes.

Yusuke, Inuyasha and even Hiei were panting by the time they broke the tree line around the compound. Both Ayako and Kagome were sweating and breathing heavily but they looked as if they could carry on for another 20 km.

"Ayako! Kagome! I'm so happy to see you're alright!" Botan shouted from her oar in the air, "Everyone! They're back!"

Keiko and Yukina were the first to emerge from the main house and hug the new hanyous. Soon everyone was gathered around commenting on the new hair style, and markings. There were many hugs and laughter. Then of course the whole discussion had to be done about the mark again. The feeling of relief was like a tangible thing in the air.

"I see you finally did it Hiei." A smooth voice came from his right.

"Shut up fox. Of course I did." Hiei grumbled.

"Hey shrimpy! You finally told her eh?" Shizuru grinned from behind Kurama.

Hiei's sharp nose picked up something else on the wind. He smiled.

"It seems like you were busy while we were gone fox. Finally officially mated AND… a new life?" Hiei looked at Shizuru pointedly.

She blushed. "Shit. I told you Hiei would be able to tell and blow our cover. He is the only other full demon around here you know."

"Did I just hear what I think I heard?!" That was Ayako. Shizuru sighed as the girls pulled her away to weasel the news out of her. Much screaming and hugging commenced again. Hiei shook his head.

'Women.'

Kuwabara walked over to join them; the squealing was getting to his ears.

Yusuke slung his arms around Hiei and Kurama's shoulders. "Well my boys! I think this calls for celebration."

The four looked at him curiously.

"Oh come on. For one thing Ayako and Kagome just turned 21. Or I guess its 171. Hiei finally declared his intentions for Ayako. Shizuru and Kurama FINALLY made it official and they have a bun in the oven… hmm what else… OH Yukina knows Hiei is her brother. And both Ayako and Kagome survived their little trip down "becoming a hanyou" road." Yusuke thought for a second. "Did I miss anything?"

The other four looked thoughtful. They collectively shook their heads.

"Alright it's decided!" Yusuke grinned.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"No fucking way Dimwit!" Genkai practically shouted at her former apprentice.

"What are you talking about you old HAG? We have to celebrate! We're going into the village and cutting loose!" Yusuke shouted back.

"What part of the fact that Ayako and Kagome are exactly what the Karyuudo, who are spread throughout the countryside right now, are looking for do you not understand?!" She shouted back.

"With all of us together we'll be fine and you know it BABA!!" Yusuke was starting to sound hoarse.

Before Genkai could counter once again in this colossal shouting match Ayako stepped in and put a hand on both their arms.

They were silent and looked at her.

"It's alright Yusuke. We can go out another time. After this is all over. OK? So stop shouting please." Ayako looked around at everyone else in the room. They all looked supremely uncomfortable.

"All of you are to stay within the compound until Koenma gets back to us about this Nikushimi demon and his ambitions." Genkai said softly. "If I catch you leaving I'll be training your asses so hard you'll be unable to walk any farther than the edge of the compound."

With that she was gone from the room. Ayako turned to Yusuke with a grin on her face. Yusuke grinned back and nodded.

'What the hell are they planning?' Hiei watched Ayako as she walked back over towards the couches and settle back beside Shizuru.

Yusuke turned back towards the rest of the guys and as he walked past them he whispered something very softly.

"Be ready… midnight."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako was dressed in jeans and a dark brown long sleeve v-neck shirt that showed off her cleavage. Her hair was done in a simple ponytail, the white tips brushing the middle of her back. Her teeth shone in the darkness as Hiei watched her creep towards Kagome and Inuyasha's room.

Genkai really should have thought about what she was saying when she told them they couldn't leave. Ayako and Yusuke had practically grown up together and they had planned escapes like this all the time when they were teenagers.

Growing up and being trained like assassins had only made them better at it.

Together Ayako and Yusuke gathered everyone together on the gazebo outside. It was a clear night and the moon was shining full and bright.

"Alright team. We're headed to Tetsu's in the village. No booze for you Shizuru." Yusuke stifled a giggle. "Genkai should really think about the fact that she trained us all to be deadly silent…"

Grins were seen around the circle as the rush that comes from sneaking out came over them.

"Aren't we a little old for this? We're acting like a bunch of teenagers." Kurama asked quietly.

Ayako giggled her eyes glowing softly in the dark. "Yeah… but its fun isn't it?"

Kurama grinned back. Everyone had caught the fever now.

"Alright kids… let's go tear it up!" Yusuke swung Keiko up on his back.

Kuwabara already had Yukina securely clinging to his back; Shizuru on Kurama as well. The other four remained singular.

With one last nod around the circle everyone was gone.

"HAHAHA! What a rush! Man I missed doing this. Yusuke we need to do this more often!" Ayako was laughing heartily as they all settled on the step outside they're favourite pub. Ever since Ayako turned 18 this was there favourite place to unwind.

Yusuke grinned back. "No kidding eh? Woo! Let's get our drink ON!"

The crew walked into the pub and weren't surprised to see they were only the second group of people to grace the place tonight, but it didn't matter. They were making their own party.

"Oi! Tetsu! Its YUSUKE AND AYAKO!" Yusuke shouted over the small counter into the back.

A small kind looking old man came out of the kitchen drying his hands on his towel. He looked over at Ayako and grinned.

"Happy Birthday young lady! I see some changes have taken place…" Tetsu said kindly.

"Hai Tetsu-san… although it would probably be best for you to not know too much about it right now." Ayako said sincerely as she hugged the old man.

"Ah, I understand. Well I see the whole crew is here. Including our newest friends." He nodded towards Inuyasha and Kagome, who smiled in return. The group had been here not long after they arrived to help get them acquainted with the area.

"Tetsu-san! A round of sake please! Make it two bottles! We'll be taking more.. later.. Oh but only nine glasses." Yusuke smiled.

"Nine?" Tetsu began counting.

"Hai Tetsu-san, I will not be drinking for awhile now. Nor smoking." Shizuru grinned then sighed. "Finally you found the way to make me stop smoking… I think that was your plan all along fox." She winked at her mate who smiled back.

"You finally figured it out then." Kurama replied.

"Hai Hai nine it is then!" And Tetsu was off to the back as the gang settled at their favourite table by the fireplace.

The night carried on much this way. There was only one thing that could put a dent into such a night as this…

Tetsu was giving them last call when the door opened and a whoosh of snow flew into the room. All heads turned towards the new comers, curious as to who the hell would be coming into this tiny place at this time of night.

In the doorway stood three apparitions. The two on the side were simple C class. Most likely expendable body guards.

In a flash Kurama, Inuyasha, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei were on their feet, hands on their weapons. The one in the center was definitely A class.

"Now now Gentleman. I'm not looking for a fight." He said in a deep voice.

Stepping into the light they could make out his features for the first time. He was beautiful; long silver hair similar to Inuyasha's and dark blue stripes marking his high cheekbones. He had bright ice blue eyes and wore a traditional fighting garb similar to the one Ayako had seen Kurama wear.

"What the hell are you looking for then?"Hiei hissed.

"Not what but whom," the stranger paused and looked directly at Ayako. "I am looking for a hanyou named Ayako."

Hiei slowly pushed her behind him and growled low in his throat.

"What the fuck do you want with Ayako?" Yusuke practically spat.

The man looked smug. "Why, she is to be my bride…"


	13. Broken

**AN: Sorry this chappie is so short after a long break. Xmas was crazy and this chapter is mostly transition. I do not own IY or YYH**

"What the fuck IS this Genkai??" Yusuke practically spat. "Who the FUCK does he think he is?"

Genkai held up her hand to silence her fuming apprentice and read over the document in her hands. Her face grew more and more dim with every line.

Ayako felt like she was under a microscope and she was wishing Genkai let Hiei be here with her, but she also understood how unpredictable the fire apparition could be and knew they didn't want the mysterious demon dead before they could investigate his claim.

Yusuke's pacing was not making her feel any better and she couldn't shake the chill that spread up her spine as the newcomer watched her reactions intently.

"I'm afraid this looks legitimate. It's a contract signed by Ayako's birth parents and the lord and lady of the second highest snow leopard clan at the time. The eldest daughter, which is you Ayako but only by a few minutes, is to be wed to the eldest son of the Fukiyama clan, which is you… I'm sorry what is your given name again? An old lady forgets." Genkai tried to smile diplomatically but failed… terribly.

"My name is Ketsuji, master Genkai." He replied with a smile that seemed to take up too much of his face.

With Genkai's words, Ayako felt her heart sink. There was no way she could marry this stranger! She loved Hiei!

"I'm sorry master Genkai I think I'm going to be sick." Ayako spoke quickly and fled the room, tears beginning to sprout under her eyelids. She stopped just outside the room and wept silently. She needed to hear what else was said, but she couldn't take his eyes on her anymore.

"You know Ketsuji this contract is very old, and times have no doubt changed. Since neither your parents or hers are still alive this contract is not unbreakable. I'm afraid your rash statement of declaring her your bride is … premature." Genkai said evenly.

"You are right. However, the proper steps must be taken to dissolve such a contract, which may take months. The preordained date for our wedding is next summer. I suggest that you allow me to stay here until that time which the contract is fully dissolved. If the steps are not complete by then, Ayako will be my wife." Ketsuji spoke with such coldness that Ayako felt a shiver run down her spine.

Ayako could only imagine the expression that bold statement had produced on Genkai's face.

"You may stay in the guest house. I assure you if you do anything ungentlemenly toward Ayako you will be sent back from whence you came and we will send you the documents dissolving the contract when they are complete." Genkai said in a harshly clipped voice.

"You speak as if it is what the girl wishes. Do you really believe she will turn me down?" Ketsuji asked quietly.

"She is already someone's intended. I suggest you give him a wide berth." Genkai said dismissively.

Ayako heard the swish of clothing as Ketsuji bowed, and Ayako ducked back into a niche to avoid being seen as Yukina lead him from the room to his quarters.

Ayako took off to her room where she knew Hiei would be raging and pacing, she could feel his growing anger through the mark that connected them and she needed to tell him all would be put straight soon. Before he killed the man.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

He was going to kill him. And enjoy it.

Hiei was growing more and more agitated as he felt Ayako's rising discomfort.

'I swear if he touches her I will cut off both his arms.' He thought with a scowl.

Ayako was coming closer. Finally, he could get some answers. He was about to ask her a barrage of questions before he saw her face. She was so pale and in an instant his anger at the stranger was replaced with concern for his intended.

Ayako didn't speak for a long time. Hiei held her as she cried and his anger began to grow again… settling in his stomach like a cancer.

When she finally spoke and told him all of the events that passed his heart sank.

The contract was legitimate. He couldn't interfere with her! Not until it was null and void. Hiei let go of her and took a step back.

He saw Ayako's eyes widen. He wanted so much to bring her back into his arms, but if she really was someone's betrothed his honour wouldn't allow him to interfere.

He wouldn't look at her.

"Hiei? What is it?" Ayako's eyes were pleading. She needed him right now.

"I can't Ayako…" Hiei left the room in a flash, leaving Ayako sinking deeper into herself.

He had to get the contract dissolved. That was the only answer.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako watched him leave and felt like she really was going to be sick. How could he leave? Couldn't he see how much she needed him, especially now?

She sunk to the floor and clutched her knees to her chest and cried. She cried until her throat was hoarse and her eyes refused to produce anymore tears. She finally stopped and began instead to think.

She could guess that it was something to do with his warped honour that he acted the way he did but what about love? Did he not love her as she thought he did?

Was she just some cheap thrill that he was looking for an excuse to dump and last night, along came the perfect opportunity.

'_You know he wouldn't do that.'_

DO I?!

She was going crazy in here. She needed some air.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"Hiei I knew you'd come. Did you tell her why you left?" Genkai asked without looking up from the contract in her hands.

Hiei shook his head.

"You know she deserves an explanation." Genkai looked up this time, to gauge his reaction.

"She knows. Besides I cannot be around her if she is someone else's betrothed! You know that!" Hiei scowled and looked away. "I want to go after the needed documents to dissolve the contract. You know I'll do it the quickest."

"Hai, I know this." Genkai studied the silent fire demon. "I also know you, and what you are really doing. You are going to ask me not to tell her aren't you?"

Hiei looked shocked. How had she known?

"You want her to give this… other demon, which she may have to marry, an honest chance and if you are in her heart she won't. You know this."

Hiei looked away again. It broke his heart when he heard it from someone else.

He couldn't let her go.

"Hai. But that won't happen. When I return with the documents he will be out of her life. No honour conflicts no nothing. I can have her to myself…" Hiei trailed off. It sounded weak even to himself. What kind of an explanation was that?

"And what if she hates you so much for abandoning her that she marries him before the date? Before you have a chance to get back and dissolve it." Genkai asked evenly.

Hiei felt a cold hand grip his heart. "My honour won't allow me to force her."

"Does your honour also keep you from telling her why you're going?" Genkai asked a touch of anger entering her voice.

Hiei nodded but he knew that was not what she wanted to hear. For a moment he wanted to throw out his honour code. Where the hell was that getting him lately??

But a demon without honour was like trash. His face turned from one of doubt to one of firm resolve.

"Master Genkai. I will bring the documents needed before the arranged date of marriage, which is July 12th of next year." Hiei stood firm.

Genkai stared at him for a long time. "Alright Hiei. I hope you do not live to regret this. For her sake and yours."

Hiei nodded and in a flash was gone. Genkai slowly shook her head. What should she tell her now?

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The cool early evening air did nothing to calm her. Hiei was leaving. She could feel it.

She ran from her room to the far west side of the compound. She could sense him there.

"HIEI!!" She screamed his name as she rounded the corner. Tears began to flow non-stop.

He looked up and saw her running towards him. If she reached him he wasn't sure he could peel himself away to do what needed to be done.

"Don't Ayako. I need to go." Hiei said evenly and she stopped in her tracks. The look on her face saying more than enough.

"Why?" Ayako's voice was barely louder than a whisper. "What am I suppose to do to make you stay? I'll do anything! Stay with me please!"

Hiei looked to his left and saw Kurama come around the corner, he looked right and saw Yusuke emerge from the compound. He hung his head.

"My honour will not allow me to stay." Hiei said quietly and turned away from her, his own heart breaking, along with hers. Her mark on his shoulder was already beginning to fade.

He didn't see her break down. He couldn't. Later he cursed himself over and over again for being such a coward.

He was gone. She watched him run until his form merged with the trees. Her heart falling to pieces so small she thought they'd be lost forever.

She collapsed into Shizuru's arms, and was carried back into the compound.

She stayed with her as she cried herself to sleep.


	14. Picking Up The Pieces

**AN: This one is for my favourite reviewer on , Nyuka. Honestly every one of your reviews makes me laugh. Enjoy! I do not own IY or YYH.**

Ayako rarely left her room over the next few weeks. The New Year had come and gone and she was still barely eating, and had grown terribly thin.

Her attractive yet seemingly cold suitor tried to call on her once or twice a week. Each time he was turned away by the only person Ayako allowed in; Shizuru.

Until one day… that is.

Shizuru was busy making a pot of tea to bring to Ayako's room when Ketsuji came calling.

Ayako felt like she was making that climb back up again. That what Hiei had left her with was no longer such a sharp pain, but a constant dull ache. She heard a gentle knock on her door.

"Come in Shizuru." She said quietly, wondering why her friend was knocking in the first place. When the person did not come in Ayako strode across the room and slid open the door.

Standing in the doorway was the source of her misery, to some degree at least, and she was tempted to slam the door in his face, she was actually in the process when he stuck his arm out and quickly caught it before it could snap shut on his fingers.

"Ayako-san, please. Can I just talk with you? I'm sorry this has turned out this way but… I... I just want to talk." Ketsuji's voice seemed almost, kind.

Ayako's eyes narrowed as she looked at the tall stranger.

"Alright then… talk." She said simply.

He looked surprised and she stared at him expectantly.

"Uh… umm... well I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For how this has all happened. And I'm sorry about how I acted before. There were so many men around you that seemed so protective and I'm afraid when I get defensive I can appear much colder than I really am." He looked at his feet.

Ayako immediately felt guilt creep into her heart. How could she have been so callous? She had never looked at this situation from his point of view. Instead she chose to blame him and wallow in her own self pity. She felt disgusted with herself.

Her face visibly brightened.

"I'm sorry too; for many things, mostly for not giving you a chance to explain yourself until now." She smiled. "Would you like to go for a walk? It's still cold but I've discovered since I have acquired my snow leopard heritage that it doesn't bother me in the least."

He grinned like a teenager, making him look even more striking than ever. "Sure. I'd like that."

The two demons ventured out into the compound and into the northern forest where Ayako knew of a beautiful place to sit and… talk.

As they walked Ayako felt her heart lighten. She was surprised it was still even there. Once she had asked the question about their shared homeland in the northern Makai she hadn't needed to speak much. He told her of the beauty and the diversity of the seasons. He told her of his family history and how their families had been close for centuries before her own parents. When she asked of the current situation his face fell.

"Ever since Nikushimi killed the Lord and Lady and took over the area, the snow leopard families have lived in fear." He shook his head sadly and his long silver hair shined in the sunlight. For a moment Ayako was left breathless at how truly beautiful this creature walking with her was.

Then she thought of Hiei, and a cold hand gripped her heart. Hiei was beautiful too.

Ketsuji seemed not to notice his companion's sudden change in mood, or he associated it with sympathy for his recent statement about their home.

Ayako shook her head to rid herself of thoughts about him… She forced herself to listen to Ketsuji once again.

"…families have lived like slaves." Ketsuji looked down at her, his icy eyes boring into hers making her heart stumble a bit.

Ayako nodded her understanding. "How did you manage to get away? If Nikushimi knew you were betrothed to one of the Kawaridane he would have followed you here; or at least sent spies after you."

Ketsuji smiled sadly. "When I learned of our marriage contract, from my parents it was because they were preparing to escape the Northlands. They wanted me to know so that if something happened I could have a bargaining chip. Unfortunately none of it made much sense to me at the time. To me the Kawaridane were just something that the Dark Lord was fearful and paranoid about. To me, you died 400 years ago, on the night of your birth." He looked off into the forest. "My parents knew differently. But I was young, and very foolish."

"Did you manage to escape then?" Ayako asked quietly, already suspecting the answer.

"Hai. I did. At the cost of my parents lives. Nikushimi learned of there plan to escape and as the current highest clan he could not allow such open defiance. It would have started a rebellion." He took a long pause and Ayako did not interrupt him. She could see the strain on his face.

"They sacrificed themselves for my well being. I escaped and Nikushimi believes me dead as well. Burned to ashes in my childhood home." He finished quietly and Ayako said nothing.

What could she say?

Instead she discovered that they had reached there desired location.

He stopped when she did and looked down at her questioningly. She gestured to the clearing just ahead and grasped his hand lightly in hers to lead him there.

His hand was warm and she gave it a slight squeeze to let him know she understood all the trouble he'd been through to get here, away from their mutual enemy and hunter.

Ayako watched his face as he looked around the clearing.

In the summer time this was her favourite place to swim and in the winter, her favourite place to think.

The clearing had a rather large pool of water that was fed by a small mountain waterfall. The break in the tree's allowed sunlight to reach the forest floor and the entire clearing seemed to shine with the snow reflecting the light all around them.

Ketsuji's face visibly brightened as he took in the breathtaking beauty of the secluded spot. Ayako smiled. Who wouldn't love this place?

She pointed to a log bench she had asked Yusuke to build for her many years ago and Ketsuji nodded following her to take a seat.

For a long time they simply sat together. Soaking up the comfort of each other's presence and listening to the rush of water flowing over icicles and splashing down in the pool before them.

After awhile they began to speak again. They spoke of Ayako's past; of her childhood and her adventures with the Spirit Detective and the others. She told him of her own spiritual powers and how she had recently survived regaining her demon powers as well.

She avoided the subject of Hiei and he didn't pressure her. Right now they were simply two people stuck in a situation not of their choosing. They were trying to become friends.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei was huddled near the small fire in the northern forests of the Makai.

'What a dreadful place. Almost as bad as the Koorime homeland.'

It was now early January and he still had not found what he was looking for. Instead he was beginning to learn something of great interest. He needed to follow the leads he was finding about the demon who had stomped into their lives declaring that HIS beloved was, in fact already spoken for.

Thoughts of Ayako were with him constantly. The last of her mark had faded and he was ashamed to say it was a relief. The added pain and sorrow that came through the mark was almost enough to undo him.

His trip to the Makai had almost been thrown to the wind countless times when he thought the pain in his chest and stomach would swell to the point of killing him and the only was to make it stop was for him to give up this foolish quest and run to her, hoping beyond hope she could forgive him.

He tried to push her from his thoughts; he stared intently into the fire and thought over what he had learned so far.

Fukiyama, Ketsuji, was indeed the oldest _living_ son of the second highest clan in the Northern Makai. Apparently he wasactually the fourth oldest, but all his brothers had died since Nikushimi took over 400 years ago. His name was widely known, but his face was not. He was spoken highly of in these parts. He was apparently a saintly young demon, who did everything in his power to help the apparitions under Nikushimi's reign to fend off despair.

Rumours were being spread, however that the man they knew as Ketsuji was dead. Burned alive along with his parents in their ancestral house.

Hiei hated to bet on rumours and thus his search was being diverted. It was possible that the young demon had escaped and fled to the living world then. Although how he got through the Kekkai barrier was yet another hole in his story. His power was among the A class demons and thus he had to be let through, or suppress his power somehow to get by.

The technique he himself used was a possibility; though Genkai had developed it specially along with Koenma to allow the team to travel freely between worlds. For that type of technique to simply be stolen was not likely. Spirit world would be in a lot of trouble if that were true.

His thoughts returned to Ayako once again. He longed for her almost every second of every day. He knew now that it was a mistake to leave the way he did and he cursed him self daily for being such a coward. If he ended up losing her to that snotty, pansy, snow leopard than he had no one to blame but himself.

He just wouldn't let that happen. He'd beg if he had too.

Hiei cursed silently to the night and gathered his cloak around him. He would find the reason why his gut told him the demon was bad news. If he didn't he knew deep down in his heart that he'd never hold Ayako in his arms again.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The sky was beginning to darken when Ayako heard a loud crashing through the trees and two heads turned to see what the commotion was.

"Ayako what the hell?? We've been searching for you half the day!!" Yusuke shouted from the tree he was perched in at the edge of the clearing.

"Yusuke I find that a little hard to believe when both you and Kurama are perfectly capable of sniffing me out. Like you just did. Hi Kurama." Ayako smiled at the kitsune.

Kurama smiled back, deeply pleased to see her happy again. "Hello Ayako. I'm glad to see you out and around."

Ayako blushed. "I'm sorry about my behaviour the past few weeks. And for keeping your mate away from you as much as I have. I promise you I'm on the mend… somewhat." She looked away knowing her words were only half truth. She didn't think she'd ever stop loving Hiei, even if she did hate him right now.

Kurama nodded and smiled knowingly. He knew her thoughts without asking. They'd known each other far too long for it to be otherwise.

"Yeah well… You scared the crap out of me when Shizuru said you went out… with him." Yusuke said the word him like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

Ayako sighed. He never would lose this big brother act. "His name is Ketsuji, Yusuke, and if I can give him a chance then I expect you to as well. All of you." She looked at Kurama as well knowing that behind that cool, friendly exterior, he was constantly measuring up the demon sitting beside her.

Ketsuji fidgeted and Ayako stood up stretching her cramped limbs.

"Alright, then Yusuke. You found me. I assume from the look on your face you have more to say…" Ayako tried to hide her grin; she could see the sulk in Yusuke's form from a mile away.

Yusuke let out an exasperated sigh. "Ketsuji, Keiko has instructed me to invite you in to the main compound for dinner tonight." His voice was barely audible.

Ketsuji looked down at Ayako for confirmation that it wasn't a cruel joke. He'd been here almost a month and had yet to be invited in for dinner.

She smiled encouragingly and he smiled back.

"I would be honoured." He said politely with a nod of his head. He then turned to Ayako with a mock bow and offered her his arm.

She laughed and took it also exaggerated and mocking the gesture itself, for it was a gesture a man would offer his bride to be.

Kurama and Yusuke were so taken aback by Ayako's apparent comfort with the demon that they fell quietly into step behind them shooting each other the same puzzled glance.

As they made there way back to the compound Ayako believed she hadn't felt better in months.

With that thought a tiny alarm sounded in the back of her head.

'Haven't felt better in months?? That is definitely strange!'

She shook her head of that thought but the moment was ruined. She felt great… yet strange.

Strange indeed.


	15. Imposter Revealed!

**AN: Sorry this one took so long. It was all jumbled and I had to rewrite it a bunch of times. I hope its right. This one is for my first flamer on mediaminer . org. Didn't anyone tell you calling people names doesn't get you anywhere? Thanks to all who are still with me at this point. I don't know what I was thinking when I started this but it may drive me insane yet. I'll keep you posted.**

**I do not own IY or YYH.**

It had been months. Spring was coming to the Makai, and Hiei finally caught a lead.

The smell in the tavern was one of sweat and death. Hiei found the air reminded him of his darker, younger days. His informant had chosen this spot to meet and Hiei could see why. The tavern was one large room but it was poorly lit with dingy booths ringing the room and a smattering of shabby tables throughout the middle. This was also a common gathering place for the local thieves and cutthroats and so one more pair of darkly clothed bodies would attract no attention.

Hiei heard the large double doors open and turned his head slightly to peer out of the corner of his eye. He recognized the newcomer as his informant almost immediately. Hiei scowled darkly. 'The fool…'

The cloak he wore about his thin shoulders was dirty and tattered but his boots practically shone in comparison with their expensive detailing and smooth finish. Hiei could also see a glimpse of white silk through the neck of the cloak. Hiei sighed audibly and shook his head.

The young demon took a seat across from Hiei and the fire apparition could feel the apprehension pouring off him in waves.

"Your attempt at disguise is pitiful, young lord." Hiei grumbled while looking pointedly at his footwear.

"I had nothing else! I had to borrow this cloak from the master yard keeper and even then it wasn't shabby enough!" The young demon had a hint of desperation in his voice.

Hiei glanced around the room casually trying to see if anyone noticed that squeaky outburst, and glared at his companion to be silent. It seemed no one heard or cared. 'Good.'

"Enough, I was told you have the information I seek…" Hiei said evenly.

The young demon nodded. "Have you then reconsidered my price? Will you take me with you?"

Hiei held up his hands. "Yes, yes…if what you say is what I think it is… you will need my protection."

The young demon nodded, and began his story. As his words unravelled Hiei's worst fears were soon realized.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The gentle spring breeze blew through the newly formed leaves and buds on the great trees above their heads. The twin hanyous sat together taking in the peace of this lazy Saturday.

Ayako turned her face to the sun and felt the warm rays banish the seemingly constant feeling of uneasiness she had experienced since Hiei left. The feeling was so familiar to her now that she only realized it existed when it was gone. Strange.

"So what have you decided?" Kagome asked, breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?" Ayako replied innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean. What have you decided about Ketsuji and Hiei?"

Everyone had taken care not to mention the fire apparition's name near Ayako. All but her sister of course. Who else could be so blunt?

Ayako sighed. "I think I have feelings for Ketsuji."

"And Hiei?" Kagome pressed, "What happens when he comes back and finds you married and his leaving was for nothing?"

"Maybe he would then realize that he never should have left to begin with!" Ayako replied sharply.

Kagome didn't look at her. "You can't do this Ayako. I'm not saying you should forgive him. Hell if it were me that boy would be losing a very precious part of his manhood when he got back," Kagome turned to face her, "but you can't marry Ketsuji out of spite. It's not fair to any of you!"

"I just told you that isn't the reason! I do like Ketsuji." She replied weakly.

"Yeah, but do you love him?" Kagome asked. Ayako remained silent. Thinking.

What she felt for Ketsuji was completely different from what she felt for Hiei. With Ketsuji it was a quiet understanding and strong sense of friendship and comfort. With Hiei… it was fire. Passion, untamed and unrelenting. But that fire burned her, leaving her broken and empty. She feared it more than anything.

"There are many kinds of love, Kagome." She replied finally.

Kagome let it drop. She knew exactly what Hiei leaving had done to her sister. Though Ayako knew what Hiei was doing, the fact that he had left when she needed him the most had hit her hard. His choice made her feel like she was less than the most important thing in the world to him. It shattered her ideals of love and romance that were indeed naïve, but happy. It turned her world upside down.

She had seen how Ketsuji and Ayako got along. On the surface it appeared so wonderful, but there was something he was hiding. Everyone saw it but Ayako. It had been months and still herself and the others could find no proof of anything amiss. So Ayako dismissed her friend's misgivings as over protectiveness. Even they were beginning to feel that they were mistaken. Besides, they had all come to the agreement that whatever made Ayako happy was best, and the young demon lord seemed to do just that.

The sisters sat in companionable silence.

The sound of booted feet walking up the path to the clearing alerted the two to his presence. They turned lazily toward him knowing already who it was and Kagome felt that same twinge of unease settle in the pit of her stomach. Kagome got to her feet.

"Hey Ketsuji. I was just about to head back into the house to help Keiko with dinner. Be back at the compound by 6:30 you two." Kagome smiled quickly at her sister, and hurried from the clearing with a flippant wave.

Ketsuji looked after her, a puzzled look on his face and Ayako giggled.

"Was it something I said?" Ketsuji grinned his famous grin and Ayako laughed harder.

He walked over and took a seat on the spot of grass that Kagome had just vacated.

Ketsuji tilted his head as he looked at her. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"

Ayako smiled and nodded. "Yeah… I do."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

It had taken him months to find out the thing he felt in his gut from the beginning! How stupid could he have been to leave her there with him for so long! Hiei was fighting a vicious inner battle as he sprinted through the forests of the Makai. He had already sent a message ahead to spirit world to prepare a portal for him to cross back to the living world, but he feared he may be too late. The demon had been given months of leisure to work his dark manipulation on Ayako and anything Hiei did may not be enough.

His informant was the demon Ketsuji. The real one. His story was the last straw to Hiei's long lived suspicion that the demon who came to them, was working for Nikushimi.

From what the young demon had told him even Hiei's hope placed in Kurama and the others to keep her safe may not work, so subtle was the imposter's manipulation.

Hiei raced through the tree tops at break neck speed. Hiei felt the deep anger and desire to rip the imposter limb from limb seep into him like a disease. He would pay for what was being done to Ayako.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako looked up into the fading light of the late afternoon sky. She tipped her head back and drained the rest of the tea Ketsuji had brought with him. The dredges tasting bitter and rough.

She then thought of what she had come up here to tell him. Shortly after Kagome had left she thought she had come to a decision to tell Ketsuji how she felt but also ask to wait so she could tell Hiei to his face… for some reason now… she was having trouble thinking why she wanted to do that.

She was angry at Hiei. Angry as all Hell! And she did love Ketsuji. He was sweet and kind where Hiei was abrasive and grumpy.

But… she thought she also loved him.

_Do you still? After all he has done?_

Could she even remember why she hated him?

_Enough of that. You love Ketsuji as well; you will forget Hiei and marry him immediately!_

How was she to do this? Give up everything with Hiei for a man she barely knew…

A voice inside her persisted. _This demon cares for you like that fire apparition never did._

The voice reinforced itself in her mind until it seemed she could no longer bring Hiei's face to memory.

_Why are you so concerned about him? Forget him… your future is with us…"_

Ayako's eyes took on a glazed look. 'Us…?'

She smiled slowly.

"Ketsuji, I want us to be married immediately. I care for you more than I ever did for… what his face." The look on her face was one of total devotion.

Ketsuji's normally kind face turned once again to the hard, cold countenance of their first meeting and a wicked smile crossed his face.

"Ah so the technique is finally complete? I thought you would die from the dosage before you succumbed to it. You gave me quite the lot of trouble little Kawaridane. Now let's go kill your sister and be out of this place… neh?" His voice was low and threatening, but Ayako never once lost her smile or her awestruck eyes.

"Hai, Ketsuji-sama." She replied enthusiastically.

He nodded and got to his feet. He turned around and the smug expression left his face, but quickly returned.

Hiei stood across the clearing from them with murder in his eyes and a scrawny young demon beside him.

"Hmm maybe this will be better." The fake Ketsuji grinned cruelly.

Hiei wasted no time on words, he stepped forward allowing his power to surge from him enough so that it forced his companion back behind the nearest tree. The only reason he could withstand it at all because that awesome killing intent was not directed at him.

"Ayako, will you take care of this pest for me." Ketsuji said evenly, without turning to the small hanyou beside him.

"Hai, Ketsuji-sama." She replied with the same amount of enthusiasm and Hiei froze as he watched her transform her features to those of her demon heritage. She slowly sunk to all fours and her claws and fangs extended wickedly from her hands and feet.

"I know what you've done to her. What you've done to all of them. Leave her out of this! My fight is with you!" Hiei snapped angrily. Ayako growled darkly at his tone of voice.

She didn't like this demon or how he appeared to be threatening her master.

"I don't think so Hiei. You see I find it amusing. You will either have to kill the one you love to kill me. Or allow her to kill you. It's beautiful really." Ketsuji grimaced and motioned Ayako with his hand.

Instantly she leapt at Hiei's throat. The swiftness and ferocity of her attacks threw him off balance and she almost managed to pin him, but he feinted attacking her and rolled free.

On his feet once again Hiei and Ayako began pacing in a slow circle. Ayako was taking her time analyzing her opponent's movements. Without warning Hiei tried to break for Ketsuji and rage shot through her. How dare he attempt to harm her beloved master.

She leapt after him and caught him hard in the side just as he was about to sink his sword into Ketsuji's chest.

They hit the ground hard and she rolled quickly to her feet. A gash on her forehead began bleeding furiously and Hiei watched as her glazed eyes gained a moments clarity with the pain.

"Ayako… its me! I know you are angry with me but he has drugged you! Manipulated you with a slow acting but highly effective mind control serum. He is controlling you!"

Ayako's vision was foggy from the blow to the head. She could hear someone calling her name but couldn't tell if it was from within or without.

"Ayako please!" …Hiei?

_Ayako… kill him. He attempts to hurt your master. KILL HIM._

The glaze settled over once again and she was on all fours ready to attack once more.

"You attacked Ketsuji-sama. Die." She whispered.

Hiei felt his heart sink. She slipped under his control once again. 'Maybe if I could literally knock sense into her she would break his control!' Hiei shook his head. His stomach turned at the thought of hurting her.

She leapt at him again and this time she did manage to pin him. Hiei caught her wrists in his hands inches from having her claws rip his eyes from his head.

"Ayako. You have to break his control over you… he is going to take you to Nikushimi and Kill you! He'll take Kagome as well. He'll kill everyone…" Hiei shouted at her panting. Her feet had managed to take a chunk out of his left thigh. He was now bleeding fairly heavily.

Ayako's eyes flickered. "Kill…"

_KILL HIM AYAKO. Kill him before he kills your master…_

"My master…?" Ayako's face was wrought with pain and confusion.

"He is not your master Ayako. NO ONE is EVER your master." Hiei whispered heatedly.

That seemed to do it. Ayako's eyes cleared but her arms had stopped responding. She was awake but could not control her body.

"Kill him Ayako. Watch him suffer as you soon will. You cannot break the physical power of the serum, you may have broken the mental cloud but your body is still mine!" the fake Ketsuji screamed in triumph from somewhere behind her.

"Hiei, I can't stop my body…" tears began to form in her eyes. "I…" She let out a fierce growl as she began losing what little control she had gained.

"Ayako, I never should have left you. My honour was worth nothing compared to you. You are stronger than this. I have to kill him." Hiei seethed behind gritted teeth. The loss of blood getting to his head as he felt his strength weaken further.

Ayako let out a piercing roar and began pounding her forehead into the ground beside Hiei. He watched in shock as blood began to trickle down her face and still she hammered on.

"Ayako don't!" Hiei called out.

She hesitated only slightly. "I love you Hiei. But I don't forgive you." With one final heave she cracked her skull into the ground rendering herself unconscious.

Ketsuji howled his rage and Hiei rolled her over gently and stood up, his legs shaking with the effort.

The clearing seemed to darken with Hiei's rage and Ketsuji for once looked nervous.

"Prepare yourself." Hiei said evenly and launched himself at the imposter.


	16. The Way

**AN: Sorry this took sooooo long. Man things have been crazy with school and it took me a long time to get this one right. Again I was inspired a long time ago with this chapter and I wanted to get it right. Especially the end part. If you listen to Sugarcult's - Pretty Girl, you'll understand the feeling I'm trying to portray. I do not own IY or YYH.**

The clash of Hiei's katana against Ketsuji's rang throughout the forest. Hiei's rage hung around them like an ominous cloud and served to blot out the last of the fading sunlight. Their battle was fierce and the opponents evenly matched.

"I'm mostly relieved I no longer have to put on a show for you people." The fake sneered, "Having to take that snivelling, worthless creatures name was enough to make me sick." He motioned towards the small figure all but forgotten kneeling next to Ayako's unconscious form.

Hiei didn't look away, so intent on his prey he dare not show an opening.

"My true name, given to me by Nikushimi himself, reflects my true nature. A nature carved by the tyranny of the late Lord and Lady of the North, who took my family from me not long after my birth." The fake grinned. "Would you like to hear it?"

Hiei sneered.

"Oh how gracious of you. Yes my true name is Kurushimi. The true son of hatred, rightfully named pain and anguish."

Hiei had had enough. He leapt at the arrogant, deranged demon with black fire coating his katana blade. His sword of the darkness flame may be vulgar, but it was safer than unleashing the dragon with Ayako only a few feet away.

Kurushimi laughed with true glee and parried Hiei's attacks with his own blade.

"You know I have only one regret about this whole business…" Kurushimi looked truly saddened as he parried another of Hiei's blows.

Hiei continued ignoring him, knowing he was trying to distract him with his incessant chatter.

"I regret that I didn't get a taste of the Kawaridane-hime. If you would have been just a day later I would have been having my way with her right now." Kurushimi laughed.

Hiei never lost his cool, though the words struck home. 'What if he had been that much later…?' There was no time for "what if's".

Hiei feinted to the right as he had done with Ayako long ago and struck a deep slice across Kurushimi's left side. The taller demon stumbled but recovered quickly; however, the laughter was gone from his face.

"I would have made that little spawn of tyranny, hanyou scream my name… She would soon have no reason to remember your name… even without the mind control serum I employed…" Kurushimi spat.

Hiei was through letting this insolent demon speak. He changed stance quickly to end this but just as he was about to Kurushimi leapt away towards Ayako, he quickly knocked the real Ketsuji to the ground and raised his katana to finish her.

Hiei cried out and leapt towards him, he managed to cause Kurushimi to miss her vitals by hurtling a blast of fire at him but the sword still buried deeply in her left shoulder. Hiei swung with fury and severed the enemy's arm just below the elbow.

Kurushimi screamed and leapt away leaving behind his arm and his sword.

"I will see you again soon little Kawaridane… you will seek the call of Nikushimi." He looked directly at Hiei his eyes burning with hatred. "She cannot resist the call. Enjoy your little hanyou while you can Hiei…."

With that he was gone. Hiei didn't care. Ayako was still unconscious and blood streamed from the wound on her shoulder. With the excitement of the battle Hiei had forgotten about his own injury. His own blood loss caught up with him as he fell to his knees beside her.

"Ketsuji…. Help me with her…" Hiei's voice was raspy and weak. Ketsuji nodded and quickly rushed to help Hiei gather Ayako's small form in his arms.

Finally settling her against him, and refusing Ketsuji's help, they slowly made their way to the compound.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Keiko was outside getting a breath of air. She had considered sending Yusuke after Ayako and Ketsuji. It was getting late. Then she felt an intense surge of spirit power. She quickly fled into the house to get Kurama and Yusuke. When they came outside again the power had diminished but a figure could be seen walking out of the northern forest.

Kurama and Yusuke instantly recognizing that spirit power ran towards Hiei, Ayako and the strange demon accompanying them. Upon reaching the edge of the clearing Hiei swayed dangerously on his feet and then crumpled. Keiko sprung to action quickly calling back to Genkai before joining the two in their run towards their friends.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"So who the hell are you?" Yusuke was subtle as always.

"Hai, gomen I am Ketsuji. Ah before you object I need to request that you do not interrupt my tale for I know it will not make sense to you at first." Ketsuji said quickly.

Nods were seen around the room. It was evening of the following day. Ayako was still sleeping and Hiei was god knows where.

"Thank you. Now. The man you have known to bear my name these past few months was an imposter. He was sent here by Nikushimi to poison Ayako." He looked around. They were keeping their word though Yusuke looked like he was going to explode with questions or objections, or random strings of profanity.

"His name is Kurushimi, though I did not know that before last night. All I know is that he is the one who killed my entire family and believed he's killed me as well. My family's position as first clan under the royal family had much influence with the surrounding population in the Northern Makai and Nikushimi, wanted to control it."

"But you look nothing alike!" Yukina blurted out then quickly blushed and covered her mouth. "I'm sorry." Her apology was muffled.

The real Ketsuji laughed and continued. "You are quite right, although since I am only the fourth son of the family I was not well known to the public eye. Only my close friends would be able to tell the difference and they were 'taken care of'." His face fell.

"Disappearances have been a common occurrence since Ayako and Kagome's parents were killed. Nikushimi is paranoid and eliminates any threat to his power. Kurushimi is but another victim. His mind has been twisted for Nikushimi's purposes. He believes it was the Lord and Lady that banished his family and indirectly led them to their deaths. This is all just what Nikushimi has told him. During the raid on the castle his parents were slaughtered along with many others… Kurushimi was just an infant and one of Nikushimi's men took pity on him. Unfortunately there are many like him. That is why there are so many followers, and many demons leap at the chance to be a part of the legendary Karyuudo. The hunters of the Kawaridane." He shook his head.

"It is a sad state. Hiei found me while looking for the truth behind Kurushimi. I think he found more than he bargained for."

Kagome was the first to speak. "We have to do something. That was my family's throne! My name. I only learned of it recently but that does not change the fact that we need to stop sitting around waiting for the hunters to find us."

Inuyasha smiled at his mate.

Genkai was about to speak when Ayako slowly entered the room and took a seat beside her sister.

"It's about time you got here…" Yusuke teased gently. "Now where is that useless fire apparition?"

Ayako, trying to keep a straight face simply pointed. Hiei was lounging in the windowsill.

"Sneaky fire demons barging into meetings…" Yusuke grumbled as he settled back next to Keiko.

"Ketsuji, what do you know of this "mind control device" Kurushimi used?" Genkai queried.

Ayako visibly stiffened and Kagome put an arm around her twin.

Ketsuji shook his head. "Not much. All I know is from what Kurushimi said during the fight last night. That it took many doses to complete and that once it was complete, it will work within miles of either of the two people able to control it. Kurushimi, or Nikushimi himself."

"I believe there may be a way to counteract it." Ketsuji continued then stopped.

"Well??" Yusuke was not in the mood to be patient. His little sister controlled by the same crazy demon trying to kill her? Hell no.

Ketsuji looked unsure of how to word his reply when Kurama stepped in.

"I believe I know what he speaks of." Kurama said calmly.

Ketsuji looked relieved. The tension in the air was palpable and he did not want to test tempers.

"Oh you stupid fox… if you don't stop stalling I'll beat your pretty little face in!" Yusuke was slowly turning red.

Kurama smiled. "This type of mind control works on a neurochemical basis. With long term exposure to a certain neurotoxin it has manipulated Ayako's mind to respond in a certain way to a certain stimulus. Its absolute effectiveness demands daily dosages for months…" Kurama hung his head. "Unfortunately this Kurushimi has had plenty of time to achieve this requirement."

"The only thing that is more powerful than this type of neural connection is one much more primal." Everyone knew exactly what he was going to say as he looked down at Shizuru. "A demon mating mark would, theoretically, overrule it."

The room was silent. No one wanted to breach this subject.

Finally a small voice could be heard, though it did nothing to break the tension.

"It is getting late. Let's talk about this tomorrow."Ayako quietly rose and left the room, avoiding everyone's gaze.

Once everyone rose to exit to their respectable rooms Hiei stood in the room alone, staring after where Ayako had left, minutes ago. Without a word he disappeared out the window. He needed to think.

Hiei breathed deeply the late spring air. It was going to rain. Soon. Normally he would go to Ayako's room when it was cold. He didn't mind the cold so much but she objected. Saying he'd catch a fever.

He didn't think he'd be welcome there right now.

From his spot in the tree he could see in Ayako's window. He hadn't seen her move since she had risen to open her outside door a few minutes ago. She just lay on her futon, facing away from him.

'What have I done to her?' Hiei scowled. He knew she hated him for leaving. Her words when he came back were proof enough.

_I love you… but I don't forgive you…_

She didn't need to waste her time. He hated himself for leaving her. It was his fault that the creep was able to poison her. If someone else had gone he could have protected her. He conveniently forgot that even the infallible kitsune avatar was fooled by the imposter. It was easier to wallow in his own self loathing.

The scent of rain got stronger and the first small drops started to fall. Hiei sensed movement and looked up to see Yusuke and Keiko hurrying across the compound to Ayako's door. They knocked and Ayako stood up and beckoned them inside. Hiei watched and listened intently. He knew Yusuke wanted to remove his balls for what he'd done. He didn't blame him.

"Ayako I don't want you to feel compelled to… mate… with that worthless fire demon."Yusuke said sincerely. "We'll find another way to counter act the control. Genkai said she'd start scouring her books in the morning."

Ayako nodded sadly. "Thank you Yusuke, and you and I both know he is not worthless."

Hiei's heart leapt. What was she saying?

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"Yes we know. I just hope you're alright Ayako." Keiko said quickly to cut off any rude retort Yusuke was prepared to give.

"I'm fine. Just tired. Thank you so much for your concern but I'm going to get some rest."Ayako walked them both out and was about to turn back inside when she saw Yusuke stroll out into the clearing in the rain. Curiosity overtook her as she looked out her slightly open doorway.

"Hey Hiei! You know if I could climb trees I'd be up there beating you to a pulp right now!" Yusuke shouted. Keiko had abandoned trying to get him to come and had hurried back to their room.

"You needn't bother, spirit detective. My wounds are self inflicted." Hiei said quietly.

Ayako needed to strain her acute hearing to hear Hiei's voice over the increasing downfall of rain. When he spoke however a small shiver ran down her spine. She really couldn't stop her traitorous body, could she?

How does he make me feel this way when I have every reason to hate him? I love him. I won't stop loving him. Damn him.

Yusuke was about to reply when he felt a small hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Ayako standing in her pajamas and bare feet. The rain matting the hair to her head.

"Thank you Yusuke, but I should fight my own battles." She smiled and he hesitated. She tightened her grip and turned her expression into one of quiet pleading.

He relented. "Alright. But you call me if he gets acting funny." With that he shot one last glare at Hiei's tree and stalked off towards his room.

Ayako revelled in the feeling of the rain on her face and neck. She felt as if her worries were being washed away. A small splash was heard as Hiei leapt down from the tree and slowly approached her. She remained silent as he looked her over. His eyes told her everything she wanted to hear. She knew she'd forgive him. He'd break her.

He gently brushed her wet hair away from her face and ran his hand down her cheek. Her heart beat quickened and she quickly grabbed his hand and held it away from her, but she didn't let go.

The rain poured around them, the perfect accompaniment to their mood.

**AN: Nikushimi – hatred, Kurushimi – pain, anguish**


	17. To War

**AN: Sorry this took so long. I really should be doing homework today but my last to reviewers on ff . net inspired me to do this today. Homework will be forsaken for now. This is for Rikakit and Darkfire-Lady of Darkness. I don't own anything… sad.**

Hiei watched her tilt her head back and let the cool rain run down her face. She still held his hand and his eyes settled onto the point where her small, yet still plenty dangerous, palm met his. He knew she wanted to speak, so he let her gather her thoughts.

She finally let her head drop down and began to speak. "I want to tell you some things…" she began "And I don't want you to interrupt me until I'm finished."

He nodded, and waited for what he certainly deserved.

Ayako sighed and shook her head, keeping her gaze locked on the ground between them.

"You're a bastard." She whispered vehemently, "If I had a choice in this I'd choose anyone but you."

Hiei felt his insides clench. He deserved that.

"I was so naïve. I never once thought that someone you loved could hurt you so much. I know now it is only the ones you love that are capable of hurting you so much." Her voice was still strong but Hiei could smell the tears even if the rain hid them.

She breathed deeply and looked away from him.

"I know you know this, but if I don't say it, we cannot start again." She looked him in the eye. "I needed you. My life was thrown upside down. I was 'sold off' to be another demon's bride and you ran away. 

You cover it up with your honour and your pride but you ran. Your so called honour meant more to you than I did and my world, now upside down, also fell apart."

"It took me a month to come out of my room. When I did, my…hatred," she shivered visibly with the word, "of you left me vulnerable to Kurushimi." She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong. I don't blame you directly for what happened. I am my own person and I happily fell into his trap. He was the total opposite of you and I so wanted to rid my mind of you that I didn't see the signs. The others were so glad to see me out of my room that they didn't see it either."

Hiei flinched. Was it possible to blame himself even more? She says she doesn't blame him but she doesn't need to. He is doing it just fine on his own.

"Through all of it, I just couldn't stop thoughts of you venturing into my mind. It hurt like a red hot knife through my heart each time your image came to mind. Every time I thought of the first time we made love my heart betrayed me." Her voice had dropped to a whisper.

"It betrays me now."

Hiei stopped breathing.

She no longer tried to hide her tears in the rain. Hiei tilted his head back. It was stopping.

"I cannot begin where we let off." She knew he wouldn't apologize. At least not verbally. It just wasn't his way.

Hiei sensed he wouldn't be turned away and he apologized the only way he knew how. He closed the gap between them and gathered her small frame into his arms, and she clung to him like he was the air she needed to breathe.

He stroked her wet hair and waited.

"I need to trust you again." A small voice came from within his arms. He rumbled his agreement deep in his chest. He grasped her arms and held her away from him so he could look into her eyes.

"I will show you, you can put your trust in me again…if you'll let me try…" he said gruffly. It took a lot to say just that.

Ayako searched his face and slowly nodded. She broke away from his grasp and headed towards her open bedroom door.

"Goodnight Hiei."

She didn't wait for a reply. Her door shut out the cold night air.

Hiei stood in the same spot for a long time. The rain had stopped, and the air was fresh and cool. Finally a blur of black flashed and he was gone.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako blinked the sleep out of her eyes to receive a flash of bright morning sun right in the face.

"Aahh… ow" she grumbled as she rolled over. Ugh why was her pillow so wet? Oh right. Long dramatic talk in the rain will do that to a girl's hair. She scowled as she sat up. She was not a morning person today.

She stretched and flexed her muscles and was about to stand up when someone crashed through her door. Ayako was stunned to find Shizuru standing their grinning and breathless and very pregnant. Ayako frowned. Shizuru was not the crashing in at 6am type. Something was up.

"Ok now havin a pregnant lady burst in on someone is not an everyday appearance. Especially cuz it's you. What is going on?" Ayako asked irritably.

"Wow grumpy gus this morning I see…" she panted, "Oh you know just out for my morning jog."

Ayako's eyebrow's rose incredulously. "You don't jog. You don't crash in and you never ever look this excited about something. What the hell is it tell me or so help me I will never babysit your hanyou child!" Ayako wasn't sure if that was a good threat but it was al she could think of. Give her a break it was 6am!

Shizuru laughed. "Ok ok… Botan is back and she has… news… which I considered to be great news that I'm sure you'll agree with me about."

Ayako sighed. "You're not going to tell me are you?"

Shizuru shook her head and beckoned her to follow. "Get your ass outta bed and come hear for yourself!"

Ayako stood up, and grumbling the entire time about cryptic pregnant ladies, got semi dressed. PJ pants and a t-shirt. She just needed to find a bra… There! OK…

Ayako turned and Shizuru was already out her door waddling down the steps as fast as she could. Ayako couldn't help but laugh as she followed her friend into the main compound.

As they walked Ayako asked Shizuru about the baby.

"You are six months pregnant by now… how long do hanyou pregnancies last?" Ayako queried. Shizuru smiled as she ran a hand over her distended belly.

"Kurama isn't sure… the one thing he is sure about is that kitsune are one of the few species to mature quickly once born. It was a survival mechanism since they were constantly hunted. Being one of the trickster race is not always looked upon warmly in the Makai." Shizuru smiled. "I guess when it happens I'll know."

Ayako smiled back. "I can't wait to have a mini Kurama running around. So cute!"

Shizuru punched her friend in the arm. "Hey it's gonna be a mini Shizuru too you know. Whether it's a boy or a girl."

Ayako mockingly bent her head in prayer, "Kami help us…" then laughed when Shizuru punched her again.

They were still laughing and talking when the emerged into Genkai's briefing room. Ayako ran across the room to hug Botan and almost knocked the ferry girl off her feet. Belatedly she noticed Koenma in his older form standing in the doorway and gave him a hug as well.

"Wow… we are in a good mood today now aren't we?" Koenma laughed.

"You could say things are looking up." Ayako grinned. "Oh Botan! Shizuru said you had news."

The ferry girl nodded, "Well actually we have news, but I'm afraid it's far from the good kind." She said gravely.

Ayako looked over at Shizuru who rolled her eyes. They both knew how dramatic Botan could be.

Genkai stood up from the briefing table where she was arranging a map of the Makai. "Everyone, gather round. Botan and Koenma have information that will allow for us to plan on doing what we've been itching to do since last night's incident…"she paused for effect, "go after Nikushimi and the Karyuudo directly, and take back Kagome and Ayako's birthrights."

Ayako started to shake with excitement. Shizuru was right… this was great news. She couldn't wait to pound that sorry piece of demon, Kurushimi, into the ground.

The increase in excitement and flexing of spirit energy in the room was palpable. Any normal humans would be cowering on the floor from the effects. There were no normal humans in this group, not even Keiko and Shizuru were normal.

Ayako walked up to the table along with everyone else. She looked around the table. It was quite a sight to take in some of the most powerful demons and humans in all three worlds gathered together like this. She took it for granted most of the time.

Kagome was next to her and held her hand tightly. This was what they had been waiting for.

"Alright. As you all know Ayako and Kagome are our own personal heiress's. They hold the exclusive rights to the Northern Makai and as such, the demon who rules there now would very much like to kill our girls." Genkai began.

"I'd love to see him try…" Kuwabara said laughing and everyone joined in except Hiei. Although he did grin.

"OK calm down. Now Koenma and Botan have informed me that Nikushimi has grown lax in his monitoring of the gates to the Makai. With Kurushimi's recent success he feels he will be able to control Ayako upon first sensing her and take care of Kagome through her."

"I have been looking through my books on how to counter-act the control, but my instincts about the matter tell me it may not be necessary."

Hiei and Ayako's eyes met and she smiled. He smiled back. Things were going to be alright.

"Seems I was right. So anyway that problem is now less of one. Besides all of you here are among the most powerful demons and humans in the three worlds. We will not fail."

Cheers were heard around the room. Everyone present was itching to end this and end it violently.

"Alright alright children… lets do this thing."

Genkai continued talking asking for input every once in awhile. The plan was a simple one. All of them would enter through the same gate that Botan would open for them. Together they could plow through the enemy forces slowly but surely. Their goal was to bring Nikushimi down completely, which included liberating the lands of his forces.

Their ability to work together as a team would ensure they wouldn't encounter much resistance until they got closer, and by then the land and people they liberated would be behind them and watch their backs.

Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Inuyasha would lead the assault on any forces. Kagome and Ayako would be perched on high ground to take out the enemy with their spirit bows and would also heal any injuries sustained. Genkai and Yukina would scout and help when needed. The shy Koorime had developed skills of her own and she itched to prove to her brother and to Kuwabara she could fight also.

Shizuru objected vehemently to being left behind, along with Keiko. It took Kurama and Yusuke pleading with them to stay behind. Neither were as powerful as the rest, but they were part of the team. Keiko finally agreed that she needed to stay with Shizuru if the baby came while they all were gone. Shizuru was pulled aside from everyone by Kurama and she finally agreed to stay behind after threatening Kurama with otherworldly pain if he got himself killed.

Ayako made a mental note to tell Shizuru she'd be looking out for Kurama especially. It would not do for their baby to never meet his father.

"OK… anymore questions or … "Genkai looked at Shizuru with a sly grin, "threats to be made?"

Everyone laughed.

"Alright we will leave tomorrow morning. You all have the rest of the day to yourself; I suggest you spend it well. Because tomorrow it will be war." Genkai's tone sobered everyone present.

Though they were all excited, what they were doing was dangerous, and they could die. Ayako watched as the couples filed out together. Undoubtedly to make this peaceful time together last as long as possible.

Ayako and Hiei were left standing together at the briefing table. Hiei held out his hand to her and she walked around the table and took it in her own. They walked outside and when they were standing in the middle of the sun drenched courtyard Hiei scooped her up and took off through the trees.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei finally stopped in a tree far from the compound. He settled himself against the trunk and positioned Ayako in front of him.

They sat in silence and he revelled in the feel of her in his arms again, and the scent of her and the love in his heart. It was unreal.

"Hiei, I think you should mark me again." She said suddenly.

He was shocked. I thought she wanted to go slow.

"I don't mean I want to make love. It's too soon." She sighed and snuggled back into his chest. "I want you to mark me. A courting mark, an intention of your claim, so our minds can be linked and if I begin to be taken again you can help me stay with you... with everyone."

He sat silent for a minute. Then he grasped his hands around her waist and lifted her to turn her around in front of him. He looked into her eyes. She nodded slowly.

He leaned forward and kissed her softly. He felt like his heart would explode. How did she do this to him? He was so unhinged around her. He broke away from her lips and slowly kissed along her cheek, her jaw line, and down her neck to the point where her shoulder and neck joined. Her breathing had increased in pace, and he could feel the blood pounding in his ears.

Damn he wanted her. He wasn't sure if he could control himself if he marked her.

He hesitated. Her breathing hitched. He held his breath.

Thoughts of how she was blank-eyed under Kurushimi's control came to mind. He never wanted to see that look in her eyes ever again.

He bared his fangs and bit down, infusing the mark with some of his spirit energy. He felt her fangs come down on the same spot on his own neck. They broke apart and looked at one another, panting with frustration. They both felt the connection begin, first with the tingling in the mark and then the amplified emotion through it.

Hiei put his hand on the back of her neck and dragged her head forward until they sat with their foreheads touching, eyes closed, simply taking one another in.

Hiei smiled, and Ayako felt it. She smiled back.

"Tomorrow, they are going to wish they'd never been born." Ayako said softly. Hiei growled with pleasure. His onna was powerful. What a turn on.


	18. First Assault

**AN: Hey everyone. This one took awhile eh? Sorry. Just about finished finals and I finally got around to wrapping this chapter up. Mostly transition tho… **

**Warnings: This is rated M. There will be language.**

**I do not own. Sad.**

Something was digging in her ass. OW. Stupid fucking tree knot giving her a minor enema…

Ayako sighed. She was sooo not a morning person.

She heard a deep rumbling chuckle come from behind her head.

"You're finally awake? Geez I thought I'd have to summon a firing squad to scare you out of your coma." Hiei said with an infuriating level of mocking in his voice.

"Don't make me hurt you small fry." Ayako grumbled in response. To which he responded by laughing harder.

Stupid annoying, perky, fire-demons.

He gently pushed her up and hopped down to the forest floor.

"Let's go grumpy. Got a war to get to." And with a flash of black he was gone.

Gah. Morning. OK. What am I supposed to be doing? Ah…packing. Right.

Ayako dragged herself back to her room to gather her things. Turning to the east she could see the sky lighten. It would be dawn soon and they would leave. The excitement in her began to grow.

She was just about finished packing when Hiei poked his head inside her outer door.

"Still feel like glaring daggers at me?" Hiei asked. Damn he could be cute sometimes.

She smiled too sweetly. "Not as much as before, but you know, I can have my violent tendencies."

Hiei rolled his eyes. Yeah, no shit.

Ayako chose to ignore the look; she was just feeling normal again. She looked down at all she had gathered. Her med supplies, which were only half necessary as both her and Kagome were exceptional healers without all this junk, but old habits die hard I guess.

She felt a warm body press against her back and arms wrap around her from behind. She sighed and leaned back into Hiei's warmth.

"We're gonna make it through this ok, you know that right?" Hiei's deep voice rumbled through her body. "I won't let them take you from me again."

Ayako nodded. She knew the depth of Hiei's anger, and her own at being controlled so easily. Once again she cursed her own stupidity. Ayako sighed. There was no use dwelling on that now.

"Enough of this… lets get going Hiei." Ayako said with a smirk.

Hiei nodded and followed her out the door.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Genkai stood on the path in front of the compound's main entrance tapping her foot.

_Damn kids always take so long to primp. You would think that they would grow out of it but no, life didn't go that way for Genkai._

Her thoughts about her "young" charges were practically transparent to those gathered.

_How can some of the most powerful demons and humans in the three worlds take so long to drag their asses out of bed and prepare to leave? She had been far too soft on them. That's it! Once a week their will be field training lasting 4 days. No, possibly five days…_

She was dragged out of her thoughts by the arrival of the last three couples. Hiei and Ayako were first and Genkai could see Yusuke, Keiko, Kurama and Shizuru coming as well… Finally we can get going.

"Botan! Would you mind opening that portal now please? Seems like our young beauties have finally graced us with their presence." Genkai scowled at the young ferry girl, who gulped and turned quickly to perform her task.

Genkai watched as Yusuke and Kurama said their last good byes to the two who were staying behind. She saw the fear in their eyes and swore she'd give her own life to make sure those two boys got home to them again.

She saw the eight young fighters face her and she nodded slightly. Then without a word she leapt through the portal and her small army followed.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Spring was not so far along in the Northern Makai as it had been in the living world. Snow could still be seen here and there and the air was refreshingly chilled.

Ayako breathed in the forest air and felt absolutely alive. She figured she may feel nostalgic by coming here again but did not know to what extent. She looked over and found Kagome with the same expression on her face. The ghostly leopard spots on their skin seemed to grow more distinct, and Ayako could almost feel her power grow and flex.

"Genkai," Ayako began and tried her hardest to keep her voice steady, "why do I feel so… different than at home? I've been to the Makai before and it's never felt like this. I feel like I could do anything."

Genkai grinned at her adopted daughter. "This place is your home. The forest will literally bend to your will. Since you both are the true rulers here, the land is welcoming you back." Genkai gestured to the forest around them and everyone in the party could almost here the trees cheering. Their branches were swaying and creaking and there wasn't a breath of wind.

"So this is why only nine of us are going to be able to take back the Northern Makai. Kagome and Ayako can literally call on the land to assist us." Kurama muttered. Ayako saw Hiei glance at Kurama and nod.

That made Yusuke feel a whole lot better. "Well then! Alright Ayako call up that tree army and lets go beat some "hunter" ass eh?"

Everyone giggled. Except Hiei… Hiei doesn't giggle.

"Ayako, Kagome, would you mind calling on this new found power of yours and scout ahead to the first camp of the enemy. I made sure Botan set us down outside the zone of influence so we can take this one step at a time." Genkai said softly.

The twins nodded and closed their eyes. Ayako wasn't sure what she was supposed to do, but listening seemed like the most logical choice so that's what she did. She listened to the trees.

At first she couldn't feel anything. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Information was being thrown at her in the form of emotions and sensations. It didn't make any sense to her. She forced herself to calm down. How else did she expect trees to see the world?

Ayako took a deep breath and let the information come at her again. If there was an enemy camp around then they would have cleared trees, using them for shelter and firewood. She could feel the forests anger at those who did not ask before they cut, nor considered the values of their brethren when burning the branches of a cousin. The trees' anger was focused in one direction and she guessed the distance from how many voices between here and there.

Not far.

Ayako opened her eyes and met Kagome's. They sent each other a look that said, 'Weird. Yeah I know. Northeast, about 5km.'

While Kagome relayed the information to the rest of the group, Ayako took the time to let the forest in on their plan. It took some getting used to, speaking in a way that they would understand but she got her point across. She showed the trees mental "images" of her companions in terms of sensation and power, while informing them of their need to travel through and seek shelter from the forest. The response she got was unanimously positive. They could take all the dead branches needed for their shelter and fire. A promise was secured to alert either of the girls to any trouble approaching as well.

Getting an entire forest on ones' side was quite the upper hand.

Genkai and Yukina listened to Kagome's description and took off through the branches. Ayako could feel Hiei stiffen at the thought of his baby sister just being here and Ayako turned to face him.

"Believe in her like I once asked you to believe in me… neh?"

Hiei's eyes widened and his lips pressed together in a strained line. He nodded slightly. Ayako sighed.

Everyone waited the extra minute it would take, to give them the head start they needed to analyze the camps defences, and then followed, quickly and silently.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The trip through the trees saw Hiei anxious as all hell. Sure he promised Ayako nothing bad would happen to her but how the hell was he to keep that promise? He was wrought with insecurities and having Yukina along as a fighter was only adding to the problem.

He thought back to what Ayako had said about believing in her. He sighed. He knew that worrying about them only made them feel incompetent but he couldn't help it. It was his nature to protect what was his. He winced at that thought. She isn't really mine. Neither of them are. Another sigh.

Before they had left this morning Kuwabara had approached him. He knew this time would come since his and Yukina's talk in the gazebo, but somehow he wasn't prepared for what Kuwabara said.

The oaf had impressed him with his quiet confidence and intelligent manner so much that Hiei didn't even have a snide remark to make Kuwabara sweat about. He sighed again. 'I'm getting soft.'

He turned slightly and watched Ayako leap through the trees just ahead of him. She really didn't know all the things he would do for her. The extent to which he'd go. Maybe someday he'd show her. After they got through this mess.

Hiei smirked as he sent some of his arousal from watching her through their mark. She almost missed the next branch because of it and he smirked. She could feel her anger coming back through at him, and he chuckled.

'Have to make sure she's worked up. She's a better fighter when she's pissed at me.' He thought as he remembered their desperate fight last December.

His focus returned to the camp ahead and they all masked their spirit energy. They were within range of detection and so their movements automatically became quieter as they flitted through the branches. They landed silently and gathered around Genkai and Yukina, in a particularly large tree at the edge of the enemy camp.

Genkai rattled off instructions in sign language.

_Alright kids here's the deal. Approx. 70 enemy targets ranging in power from upper D to upper B. Doesn't mean there isn't an A or two around. Watch your asses._

Nods were seen all around.

_Kagome take this tree and take out as many as you can with your bow. Ayako there is a tree similar to this one almost halfway around the other side. Take that. I don't have to tell you to be careful. If you are forced from the tree you'll have to fight with your sword or hand-to-hand, and we will lose cover for the boys. Do your best._

_Yukina and I will hover and assist where needed. _

_The best way to do this is to split the boys into two groups. One supported by Kagome, the other by Ayako. I will let loose the signal once everyone is in position. You'll know it when you see it._

_Use your radio head sets only once battle has commenced. Got it?_

Nods again.

_Any questions?_

Everyone was silent.

_Right, good luck boys and girls. Let's crack that first bottle of sake when this one's over._

Flashes of white smiles were seen in the early morning light. Silently Ayako took off through the trees to her position. Hiei, Kuwabara and Kurama followed. Yusuke and Inuyasha stayed behind with Kagome.

Hiei didn't wait long. Standing in the shadows beneath Ayako's perch he saw an enemy sentry fly through the air over camp, screaming with a small dagger imbedded in his chest. Genkai was not one for subtlety.

Chuckling to himself, he watched as Ayako began picking the visible guards off one by one.

Not one for battle cries, Hiei leapt on the first demon he saw. Kurama and Kuwabara beside him did the same.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

The battle didn't seem to last very long.

The companions were so wound up about coming here to kick some Karyuudo ass, that this relatively small outpost camp did not know what hit them. Soon only a few remained, surrounded by the companions at the center of camp. Among them, a snivelling C class demon, who appeared to be the highest ranking left alive, declared their surrender.

Wasting little time the demons were bound and gagged and swiftly transported to the nearest village where many of the inhabitants were itching at a chance to get even with their tyrannical leader's men.

Genkai thanked the innkeeper but declined the offer to stay the night recalling the mess that morning getting her children out of bed. No, sleeping in the forest would do them good, and keep them focused as well.

That didn't mean there couldn't be any celebration. Genkai arrived at the camp just in time to see Yusuke dig out the promised bottle of sake and pass it around.

She smiled softly as she watched Yukina telling Hiei about her fights, while Ayako was patching up a particularly wicked gash across her left shoulder blade.

Genkai almost laughed out loud at the look on the fire apparitions face as she recounted her story and waved off his objections. She thought the demon looked like he would burst from frustration.

It was getting on early evening and the bottle had made its rounds. Wood was gathered for the fire and supper was cooking in a large pot suspended over it.

Genkai settled back and contemplated tomorrow. Today went well. Tomorrow was going to be worse. That was just the last outpost. Not too well guarded or supported. According to the innkeeper the next camp they would encounter was the main Southern outpost.

The old master settled her back against the tree and watched as her small army enjoyed themselves. It was good for them now, but she would be all business come morning.


	19. Losing Your Cool

**AN: Here we go chapter 18. I do not own. WARNING: chapter contains violence and dark themes.**

"GET UP YOU LAZY ASSES!"

Genkai's shout was loud enough to raise the dead; or the dead to the world. Either way it worked in that it made everyone that was contemplating rolling over and going back to sleep, leap from their bedrolls and start packing furiously.

Ayako got up so fast she got major head rush and fell unceremoniously on her butt.

While everyone chuckled and Ayako rubbed her, now sore, behind, Yusuke was already up and talking to Genkai about strategy.

"I heard the innkeeper mention a certain higher up may be in that camp today." Yusuke said quietly.

Genkai nodded.

"Is it _the_ higher up that we especially don't want Ayako to encounter?" Genkai remained silent. "Come on old hag, you have to tell us. If we… if she isn't prepared who knows what will happen?"

Genkai looked up at her apprentice and sighed. "Yes. It is probably _that_ higher up. And I was going to tell them I just didn't know how quite yet."

"Hn"

Genkai whirled around to see Hiei staring… or was he glaring. Ah you can never tell.

"Stop looking at me like that small-fry. I'll tell her." Genkai grumbled and wandered off to inform Ayako that her favourite demon may be in the next encampment.

"So, Hiei."

"Hn"

"What do you think we should do? I mean I know you guys aren't mated so she could be manipulated again."

"Hn"

Yusuke sighed. "You can't tell me you aren't concerned."

"She can handle herself."

"I know that, but if she goes all "Hai, Kurushimi-sama" on us again it would be nice to have a plan."

Hiei growled.

"Gah! You are impossible. Fine I'll think of my own contingency plan."

"Don't bother Spirit Detective. I can handle it."

Yusuke felt like tearing his hair out. It was impossible to speak with the crabby, spiky haired shrimp. He didn't know how Ayako handled it.

"Alright, I'll leave it to you. Don't let her get hurt." Yusuke wandered off leaving Hiei to his own thoughts about the upcoming battle.

Hiei watched Ayako take the news from Genkai. She paled slightly and looked over at him. 'Not good. She has to be confident not scared.'

Hiei walked over to her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her away from the rest gently.

"Are you ok?" He asked quietly.

She nodded. He wasn't convinced.

"Ayako, you can't go into this scared. You once told me to believe in you. I do. You can handle yourself; you've proven that to me numerous times." Hiei gripped her chin and made her look him in the eyes.

"None of that matters if you don't believe it yourself." He finished quietly.

Ayako smiled slightly and shook her head. "Yeah. I'll be fine."

Hiei smirked. "Besides, if anything happens," he pointed to the mark visible on the side of her neck, "I'll know."

She smiled.

"Enough of this. Let's go kick some ass." She said quietly.

Hiei smirked and pulled her into his embrace. She sighed against him and he kissed the top of her head.

"Gladly."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

They were once again silently gathered in a particularly large tree at the edge of the Southern Outpost. They had decided earlier on that the silent approach would be better for this place. An all out assault would be too dangerous as there were at least 200 opponents. It was just past dusk and the sky was darkening rapidly.

The team was dressed all in black with black paint smudged on their faces and hands. Ayako had her katana strapped to her back and two small daggers in sheathes strapped to her sides. Tonight was about stealth. Kill silently, and move on.

Kagome didn't have much expertise with silent assassination so she was going to stay in the trees in case things got out of hand, wherein she would leap onto the rooftops and give cover fire. Everyone else, even Yukina, was prepared and they silently hopped to the ground and spread out around the walls of the compound. They were going to surround the camp and make their way to the center. They were going in pairs as there were four known entrances. Ayako was paired with Inuyasha; Hiei with Kuwabara, Kurama with Yukina, and Genkai with Yusuke.

Hiei sent Ayako a look before turning away. She felt his confidence in her flow through their connection. His confidence boosted her own and the excitement began to grow within her. Silent was her favourite way to go.

Both Inuyasha and Ayako were wearing black hoods to cover up the brilliant silver in their hair. Ayako gave her hanyou brother a grin which he returned. Silence didn't used to be Inuyasha's strong point, but since they'd joined forces last December his patience and skill had improved immensely. They silently flitted in between the trees until their assigned entrance was in sight. The glare of the torchlight at this small side door was incredibly bright to their eyes, which had just adjusted to the near blackness of the forest.

Ayako watched the two guards intently; they seemed to be deep in conversation about god knows what. Ayako signed to Inuyasha the plan. Inuyasha nodded his understanding and vanished into the darkness towards the far side of the gate.

Ayako carefully crept towards the outer wall of the outpost, consciously staying in the shadows where she knew the two guards in the light would be unable to see her until it was too late. She heard an owl hoot in the distance and grinned to herself. She replied with a hoot of her own, and silent as death lunged on her opponent as she saw Inuyasha take the other one from behind as well. A quick flick of her dagger across the lowly demons throat cut off any cries of warning and the guards slumped to the ground. Ayako and Inuyasha quickly hid the bodies in the shadows and crept inside the gate, the shadows engulfing them once more.

The adrenaline was pounding in Ayako's ears. She hated to admit she liked killing. She was a miko, her place in life was to heal, and help others. However she was now also half demon. Her blood lust came from her mother's side, and she liked it. She felt exhilarated. She looked over at Inuyasha and he had the same gleam in his eyes. Yeah this was fun.

She silently crept along the side of the building ad peered around the corner. What she saw surprised her.

There was no one in sight. There were supposed to be sentries posted throughout the camp. She frowned and signed to Inuyasha what the trouble was.

He frowned and signed back.

_I don't like it. Something's wrong._

Ayako nodded her agreement. She looked around quickly then signed to Inuyasha.

_I'm going up to take a look._

He nodded and she leapt on top of the building they were crouched against. She quietly made her way to the peak and peered over the other side into the center of the outpost. What she saw made her eyes widen in fear.

She scrambled back down the roof and landed on the ground next to Inuyasha. He immediately sensed the apprehension in Ayako and looked at her fiercely.

_They have Kagome._

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei and Kuwabara had just finished their guards when Hiei felt Ayako's fear come through the mark. He stuck his arm out to stop Kuwabara from carrying on and signed quickly that something was wrong.

Kuwabara nodded silently and watched as Hiei leapt away to a nearby rooftop. Hiei saw what was clearly a trap. 'Dammit!' he cursed to himself, 'there must have been a spy in that last village…we were too careless!'

Hiei peered down at the person that appeared to be the other miko, Kagome. She was dressed in the same black outfit as the rest of them, but Hiei wasn't completely convinced. However, if a Kagome was there in the center court for all to see then the Kagome that was with them was either incapacitated or had been captured before the mission began. Either way it seemed the enemy did have Ayako's sister in their possession.

With a silent curse Hiei quickly made his way back to Kuwabara. He could use the headsets but was fairly certain everyone else already knew of there trouble and were trying to find a way to get out of this. Unfortunately, the choice was taken away from them.

"Hello to my special guests!" A loud and familiar voice shouted from somewhere within the outpost. "I am hurt you decided to invite yourselves in! I thought you had better manners than that… Genkai."

Hiei signalled for Kuwabara to follow and quickly leapt back to his prior observation point. The two watched in silent anger as Genkai strolled casually into the open to confront the voice. At her appearance Kurushimi waltzed out from the shadows at the opposite end.

"Kurushimi, where is Kagome. I know this doll here is not her." Genkai said coldly.

Kurushimi chuckled darkly. "Ah, I knew you'd never fall for it but the local boss here insisted, and it's my job to please."

Hiei felt his blood begin to boil. He glanced down at the demon's right arm. He remembered the satisfaction of severing his arm from his body just below the elbow.

"You didn't answer my question." Genkai said slowly, allowing her spirit power to gather around her small body.

"Whoa, whoa! Getting a little ahead of ourselves aren't we? I have a prisoner, this is a negotiation." Kurushimi said icily.

"I don't negotiate. It would be just as easy for me to kill you and find her myself." Genkai shot back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Kurushimi turned and snapped his fingers. The air where the fake Kagome was shimmered and bent until an image of another place could be seen. In the air the real Kagome was being held down by four demons and one of them had a katana at her exposed throat. Genkai could see the anger in the girl's eyes. That was the real Kagome. "If I give the word they will sever her pretty little head from the rest of her body. That would be a real shame." He sneered.

"What do you want?" Genkai said softly.

"Oh a few things. Like my precious little Kawaridane. I've missed her and I can guarantee she's missed me." He smirked.

Kuwabara put a hand on Hiei's shoulder when he sensed the fire demon was about to leap down there and tear the demon limb from limb. Hiei scowled but sat back to wait. He'd get his chance to tear him apart.

"I'm afraid I can't give her to you." Genkai said softly.

Then Hiei heard the last thing in the world that he wanted to hear.

"I'm over here Kurushimi. Come get me." Ayako stood atop a building across the clearing from Hiei.

"Ayako don't!" Yusuke shouted from the darkness.

Kurushimi wasted no time. He signalled quickly to the shadows and the men at arms commenced their attack on the companions. He leapt onto the rooftop Ayako was standing on and Hiei could no longer watch. There were demons swarming out of every building and attacking full force. There weren't many powerful ones but there were a great number of them; at least double what they had predicted.

Hiei put his hand to his neck and turned to face the onslaught.

She'd be fine.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

"I'm over here Kurushimi. Come get me." Ayako could hear Inuyasha behind her desperate to stop her. She turned to him and smiled sadly. "I'll be fine, I can handle this bastard."

She heard Yusuke yell from somewhere in the compound, but there was no turning back. If she could kill this demon they could save her sister. She knew he would want her.

She wasn't stupid. She wasn't being self-sacrificing. She fully intended to break every bone in his body. Slowly.

He leapt up to the rooftop she was standing on. He grinned.

"Long time no see little Kawaridane. Why don't we relocate this confrontation? Things are going to get quite crowded here in a second." He smirked and she looked down at the courtyard to see it swarmed with lower class demons. There were so many!

"Hmm… I don't think so. This rooftop will do just fine for what I plan to do to you." Ayako spat.

Kurushimi raised his hand and Ayako felt her world start to cave in at the edges.

"Don't forget about that special connection we have babe. I can make you do anything I want." Kurushimi threatened.

Ayako growled and bit down hard on her arm. The pain and the constant flood of emotion coming through her mark clearing her head.

She smirked. "I don't think so."

Kurushimi smiled sweetly. "I see you have a courting mark there. That's not strong enough to do much darling. Especially if it is wiped away by another."

Ayako drew her katana. "Try it."

Kurushimi drew his own katana and smirked.

Fast as lightening they clashed together and broke apart. Ayako using her shunpo to try and break his defences. He countered her every time. The battle roared on in the background and the two continued to circle on another. Ayako had a few small cuts up her arms and across one cheek but the most trouble came from a graze to her stomach that was seeping slowly and painfully.

Kurushimi was no better off. Ayako had managed a deep cut along the outside of his right thigh that was bleeding slowly but steadily.

"I'm afraid that you have the wrong idea about me Ayako. I don't play nice." Kurushimi raised his sword arm and six other demons leapt to the rooftop to surround her.

"Keh, you think these puny demons are going to stop me?" Ayako smirked and flexed her spirit power. "Alright bring it on."

The bodies began piling up. Ayako was panting from exertion but the fire never once left her eyes.

"Oh you are troublesome. Fine. It seems I may have to bring in an old friend that is dying to meet you."

Ayako's eye's narrowed. She felt a vaguely familiar spirit force enter her awareness. It was not a small fry like these others had been.

A new demon could be seen leaping across rooftops and through battles, coming towards them. He landed next to Kurushimi and Ayako felt a twinge of fear grip her.

She knew this demon. Dokuro. On the very first mission they went on with Kagome and Inuyasha they were ambushed and Ayako nearly died. Well she did die, but anyway…

"I assume you are more enlightened to your past Ayako. And you possess your demon side now I see. What do your new senses tell you about me girl?" He smiled.

She spat blood on the ground.

"Another demon that needs to be thrown out with the trash." She smiled sweetly but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Oh now now. Don't be so hasty."

Ayako felt a short prick and reached her hand up to her neck. A dart. Poison?

Ayako turned quickly towards the source and saw a demon in the distance with a dart gun. Pointless now.

"Do you remember the last time we met Ayako?" Dokuro said sweetly.

Ayako's vision began to swim. This couldn't be happening.

"Do you remember the drug we gave you to seal your holy powers? This is similar, except now it seals all your powers temporarily. The pain you are experiencing is caused by the loss of your demon and holy energy. You will be like any normal human, bleeding profusely I may add." Dokuro chuckled.

Ayako sank to one knee.

"Did you forget so quickly how weak normal humans are?" Kurushimi scolded her.

The two demons began to walk towards her. Kurushimi attempted once more to take over her mind.

She screamed in frustration as her body fell under his control. Dokuro stood in front of her and Kurushimi walked behind her putting his arm around her waist from behind.

Her mind screamed her frustration and she felt her right arm twitch. She'd take at least one of these bastards down before she lost consciousness.

Closer, closer… that's it.

The one named Dokuro was speaking. She couldn't hear. It didn't matter. Her fingers reached for the spring loaded blade attached to her wrist.

Closer… just one more step.

The demon leaned in, presumably to whisper something intimately in her ear. It didn't matter.

Ayako sprung the catch on the blade and swung up full force driving the blade straight through the center of the demons neck. The look on his face was priceless. He slid off her blade, drowning in his own blood and fell to the rooftop with a sick thud.

Kurushimi's arm crushed a rib as he squeezed her hard from behind and bit down hard on her neck where her courting mark was.

Ayako slumped backwards falling fully under the demon's hold.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei felt his connection with Ayako break and his heart sunk. He felt the dragon on his arm surge; it was begging its master to let him out.

Hiei grit his teeth and quickly shouted over the head sets, "Everyone get out, the dragon is going to get loose."

Hiei hoped they could get clear in time. His rage at his intended's disappearance was driving him over the edge. He couldn't and didn't want to hold back any longer. The dragon of the darkness flame leapt off his arm and hovered in the air above the camp. It could smell blood and it was hungry.


	20. Helpless

**AN: Warning, this chapter contains dark themes and mention of rape. The edited version is posted on ff . net, while the link to the full smutty version is in my profile. I do not own IY or YYH.**

Ayako woke with a sharp pinch in her neck. For some reason her words wouldn't form in her mouth and all that came out was a sickly moan.

"Ah you're awake. I just dosed you with the serum again to make sure you don't get any ideas, like oh, I don't know clawing my eyes out." That voice. It made her entire being scream in loathing.

She peeled open her eyelids to take in her surroundings. She blinked a few times, and everything came into focus. It looked like she was in the forest, she presumed, somewhere near the camp. She could hear the screams of agony and fury coming from somewhere to her left. She glanced that way and saw a disturbing sight.

The Dragon of the Darkness Flame.

Shit. Our connection. Hiei must be going berserk.

"Your little boyfriend is causing quite a massacre over there. I'm glad you're awake. It will make running a hell of a lot easier." Kurushimi sneered.

"What the hell makes you think I'm going anywhere with you." Ayako's words dripped with poison.

"Ooh, have you forgotten your predicament little Kawaridane?" Ayako felt her body fall under his control. "It seems you have permanently affected my ability to take over your mind but your body is still mine. You will do what I tell you to."

Ayako's eyes burned into his.

Kurushimi chuckled warmly. "Oh I will enjoy putting that fire in your eyes out." His eyes raked across her body suggestively. "I will enjoy that very much."

Ayako felt sick to her stomach. No matter what she did now there was no escaping the fact that he could keep that promise. She hated how helpless she felt at that moment.

"Ah there, that's the expression I was hoping to see."

Ayako's eyes widened as her body got to its feet. She fought hard against his control and as he approached her she spat a mixture of blood and saliva in his face.

It felt like the side of her face exploded as he back-handed her to the ground. She would have gladly laid there but her body got up once again. The look on Kurushimi's face was deadly black.

"Oh you'll pay for that."

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei's body sagged to the ground in exhaustion. The dragon settled back on his arm and he managed to lift his head to survey the damage done.

Nothing was left. The buildings barely had there foundations intact and there wasn't a body to be found. He hadn't gone that crazy in a long while.

He heard footsteps approaching from behind. He lifted his head to peer at his companions. They all made it out on time. Inuyasha was carrying an unconscious Kagome in his arms. It seems she was only a ploy to get her sister. Hiei cursed to himself.

'I should have never let her call him out like that. I should've been with her on this mission and none of this would've happened!' Hiei's scowl darkened.

Inuyasha caught the look and his head drooped. The guilt was clear on his face as well.

"Let's not start the blame game, kids. That will get us no where closer to Ayako and it will only serve to divide us." Genkai said softly.

"I don't want to say there is no blame, but we share it. There are many things we should've been more careful about and I don't need to mention them. You are all smart enough to figure it out." Genkai finished.

"Hiei, do you know which direction she went?" Yusuke asked quietly.

Hiei shook his head. "Our connection was severed here in the base. I could only speculate."

Kuwabara sighed. "Guess we do this the old fashioned way."

Everyone else looked puzzled.

"Don't tell me you demon boys can't pick up scent like you used to…"Kuwabara asked cautiously.

Hiei almost smacked himself in the head. Instead he flash stepped away to her last known position. Kurama, Yusuke, and Inuyasha directly behind him.

Hiei scanned the area. She had been fighting on a roof top, but unfortunately Hiei's dragon destroyed most roof tops.

"Over here" Kurama shouted from their left.

Hiei looked down at what Kurama saw. A piece of shingling covered in blood. Hiei sniffed carefully.

"It's hers." He growled.

Nods were seen all around, and Hiei was about to jump off in pursuit when he felt a restraining hand on his shoulder. He whipped his head around vowing to remove said arm from the person's body until he met Kurama's knowing gaze.

Hiei sighed.

"Hiei, you said your connection was severed. How would that be possible?"Genkai spoke calmly as she approached the four.

Hiei scowled. "The mark was only a courting mark; it can be overridden by another demon marking her in the same place."

Genkai sighed. "So that's why she's gone. We will have to assume that he is controlling her body at the least. Perhaps even her mind."

Kagome approached slowly from behind. She looked as if she were in a trance. Inuyasha grasped her by the shoulders and her eyes cleared.

"The trees. They know where she is. I can feel it." She spoke softly.

Hiei was about to ask where but Inuyasha beat him to it.

She looked around at the desperate faces and her face fell. "She is already far from here. It seems they ran at top speed since the battle in the base."

Inuyasha urged her on. Kagome looked at the ground.

"If what they are telling me is accurate, they managed to reach one of the main camps farther inland." She paused. "But they are no longer there."

Her face scrunched in concentration and all present waited, holding there breath.

"The images from the trees are hard to decipher. They know little about what occurred. My best guess from this is that she went through a portal of some sort, and the trees can no longer sense her. Not for many miles."

Hiei's blood began to boil. They had taken her that far out of his reach for a reason!

Genkai drew the map of the area out of her pack and spread it on the cold ground. With light from Yusuke's spirit gun they surveyed the area. Kagome got down and pointed on the map.

"They were there, I believe." She began and pointed at an outpost at least 50km from here. "From what I can gather the "baddest demon" according to the trees, was waiting and then the three disappeared."

Genkai scowled. " 'Baddest demon' eh."

Hiei growled. "That must mean, the original bastard, Nikushimi…" Hiei glanced down at the map. The main castle for the Lord and Lady of the North in the Makai was at least a four day journey away. He pointed on the map.

"That must be where they are."

Nods were seen all around.

Hiei began to fidget as everyone packed there things. They would run until they dropped from exhaustion then they would run some more.

Yusuke approached him slowly and put a hand on the smaller demon's shoulder. "You said it yourself; she can take care of herself."

"Hn" Hiei sneered before he turned away toward there destination. "I was obviously mistaken Spirit Detective."

With that everyone leapt into the trees and prepared for a marathon trip across the Makai.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako had been listening intently to any news of the invasion. She had been in the main keep for only a day and reports on her companions came in by the hour it seemed. So far she had only seen Nikushimi once; when he had met them at the central outpost to portal them the rest of the way north.

She was glad. No matter how much she gathered her strength their ability to control her made her feel helpless and weak. That demon looked at her in a way she didn't like and she searched daily for a way to break her confinement. She was currently not under either of their control. They found it too exhausting to hold her every hour of every day so currently she was chained to a wall, by all four limbs and her neck, next to her father's throne in her parent's home.

Kurushimi was seated on the large chair currently. He was taking reports and giving orders like a good second in command should.

News of her friends was so far encouraging. They were still at the central outpost as far as she knew, and engaging the troops there in a fierce battle. It seems the real Ketsuji had followed them here to the Makai and rallied demons from the recently freed southern lands to assist in the invasion.

The assistance had sped up the advance, but Ayako feared she may be in for something before her friends could get there. She was not naive about the way Kurushimi and Nikushimi looked at her and she also knew there wasn't much she could do about it. She hung her head in temporary defeat. Hiei was going to lose it.

As if on cue Kurushimi rose from the chair as Nikushimi entered the large throne room. Her body tensed as she prepared to fall under one of their control at any moment.

"I see she still has that arrogant look on her face Kurushimi. You have done well for me. Why don't you show our beautiful guest that her ungraciousness towards our hospitality will not be tolerated." Nikushimi purred.

Before she was taken over she sprang to her feet and strained at her chains. She could feel her demon energy coming back as the last round of serum was running off. The chain holding her right arm snapped and she swiped her clawed hand at his face. He barely reacted in time and a small line of blood grew along one cheek.

She received a quick backhand and a syringe to the neck. She spat blood onto the floor as she sunk to her knees; her head feeling like a punching bag.

She glanced up at the demon that killed her parents. His skin was a sickly white colour while his eyes burned red. He had long white hair that seems to fall in strings to his shoulders. He was really a repulsive sight.

"Kurushimi, make sure that bitch is taken care of." Nikushimi spun without another world and Ayako felt herself being hauled to her feet as Kurushimi dragged on her neck chain.

He smiled that hateful smile, "My pleasure Nikushimi-sama."

Ayako felt drained once again as her powers were suppressed. Her chains were unhooked from the walls as Kurushimi briefly took over her body to lead her peacefully away.

Ayako saw the looks the other demons were giving her and she tried to scowl, but found she couldn't even manage that much under his control.

Her mind drifted into a daze as she was led down seemingly endless corridors. Her mind desperately fought against his control but gained no ground. She tried to cry, and nothing happened. To any passive observer she would have looked like a zombie, fulfilling her master's wishes.

He led her into a dark room and she waited for her eyes to adjust. She could hear her chains being attached to another wall and she screamed inwardly. These damn cowards were still afraid of her when she was this weak and pathetic?! Her mind howled in frustration.

She felt his control drop and she lunged at his throat. He laughed at her as she strained against her restraints.

"I think it will be worth it to keep the control off you for this. The fire in your eyes comes to life when the control is absent, and I want to watch every second as the light dies." Kurushimi chuckled darkly.

"I'll kill you. I swear you will feel immeasurable pain when I am free!" Ayako screamed at him.

Another hard punch across the face had her sprawling on the floor.

"It is a pity your power must be sealed. This would be much more enjoyable with your spirit power engulfing me as a have my way with you."

Ayako's eyes widened. She would not let this happen. Could not. There was no one to save her and her powers were gone. She was a weak human female and she was about to be raped. Her eyes widened further in fear.

"That's more like it." Kurushimi purred as he approached her slowly, a small dagger in hand.

Ayako backed up until she felt the wall behind her. There was no escape. She lashed out with her fist but he caught it easily. She was powerless in this form.

Pinning her wrists above her head with one hand he used the dagger in his other hand to shred her tattered black garment she still wore from last night. The shredded cloth fell around her until she was left standing in her underwear and the bandages Kurushimi's medic had patched her up with the night before.

He paused to control her mind briefly as he needed both hands to peel the bandages carefully from her body. Ayako felt sick to her stomach as his gentle touch removed the last of her modesty. She stood before him completely exposed, and helpless.

Kurushimi smirked. "So beautiful…"

He dropped the control just as he had her wrists pinned behind her back once again. He began to slowly and gently kiss her collarbone, then her neck, under her chin and up the side of her face. She was simultaneously repulsed and heated by his gentle touch. She hated him for it.

"Why… are you doing this?" Tears gathered in her eyes as he ravished attention to the other side of her neck as well. "Why can't you be rough and hurt me?"

Kurushimi's handsome face twisted into a sly grin, as he leaned into her pressing his body flush against hers. "Because though you are troublesome, if I don't make you enjoy this then I cannot achieve complete dominance of you." He spoke huskily in her ear. The feel of his breath made her body shiver involuntarily and she fought the spike of desire that threatened to overtake her.

"I realize now beating you into submission will never break you. I need to manipulate your mind and body until you are begging me to take you." Kurushimi purred.

Ayako struggled. "I will not submit to you! EVER!"

"We'll see…" With that Kurushimi tugged on her arm chains and tightened them until she was unable to move them from over her head. He put once last heated kiss on her lips, which she squeezed tight, before her stalked away across the room.

She panted and struggled trying fruitlessly to break her bonds. Her body was heated and ready, betraying her mind and her hatred. What had he done to her?

She watched him, her eyes now accustomed to the darkness as he peeled the kimono from his shoulders. He was much taller than her and she watched his muscles move under his skin as he became bare to her eyes. A shot of arousal flooded her senses and she was confused as to the origin. She hated this man. More than she hated Nikushimi or anyone else. She had once felt she was falling in love with him, and she hated him even more for the manipulation.

She'd heard about rape before. She knew she should not be reacting like this. No matter how attractive or seductive the attacker, she should not be feeling as…excited as she was at this moment.

He saw the confusion in her eyes and he grinned.

"Like what you see? I know you wanted to get a piece of me before but the scent coming from you now is… intoxicating… isn't it?" He smirked.

"What… have you done…to me?" Ayako managed to get out between pants. Her heart was racing.

"Nothing really. The fact that your intended is within arms reach could have something to do with it…" he gestured towards his new mark on her neck.

She growled. "I… hate you."

He chuckled, "Well I'm sorry to say that though your demon powers are suppressed you are still half demon. And when it comes to sex in demons we get…carried away."

She gasped silently at his last remark. His expression was one of pure dominance and she hated it, but found her body responding on its own.

"Oh and the potent aphrodisiac laced in the serum could contribute as well… I know I'm feeling its effects as we speak." He growled softly in her ear. Her body felt like it was as taut as a guitar string.

He pressed his fully naked body against hers once more and she lost all semblance of control.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

He collapsed on top of her, panting heavily. When he finally rose, she was passed out on the bed, her hair spread around her head like a dark halo. He felt his heart clench with guilt momentarily and roughly pushed it aside.

This bitch's family had murdered his own. She deserved every second of anguish this would give her when she awoke.

He slowly got up, careful not to disturb her and retrieved her restraints. He quietly lifted her and gently wrapped her in a light green yukata that was draped across the chair in his quarters. Slowly he clamped the restraints around her wrist and attached them to the wall behind her.

Feeling uncertain with himself he sat in the chair and watched her sleep peacefully. Something had happened between them and it wasn't just sex. He stared at her as she slept peacefully, and felt regret pull at his heart.

He tried to shake it away. Nikushimi had told him everything about this hanyou and her family. He hated her. Loathed her very existence. He shook his head as a flash of memory assaulted him.

He saw Nikushimi's eyes burning with hatred, and he smelled death all around him. He remembered… turning and seeing… what?

Frustrated, and hating this feeling of guilt he quickly dressed and left the room.

He had to know.


	21. Consequences Of Action

**AN: Yay! New Chapter! Loves! R&R…… I do not own.**

Kurushimi open the door to his bedchamber slowly. His piercing blue eyes took in the state of the hanyou he'd left in his bed. She was still asleep. He rubbed absentmindedly at his arm where a new limb, "willingly" sacrificed by one of their men, attached to the rest f his arm. It was bothering him tonight. Along with his conscience.

Kurushimi didn't think he had a conscience. He'd felt dead inside since he was a small boy but for some reason… this woman… changed him.

He had just spent the last few hours trying to get the disturbing images out of his head. He'd never had memories of his childhood before now, and the scenes that kept playing out in his mind were…disturbing.

He wandered across the room to his desk chair and sat on it backwards, resting his arms on the back. He glanced tiredly to his right out the window to see dawn would be breaking soon. He shook his head and sighed. He would have to wait for her to wake up. There was a shit storm coming and he didn't know what side he was on anymore.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei was panting hard, as he turned and spat blood onto the ground. Ayako was still two days away, and everyone in the party was exhausted past the point of movement.

Yukina was out cold in Kuwabara's arms and Kagome was diligently making the rounds healing all of their minor cuts, abrasions and concussions. Hiei refused to stop. His body screamed at him to relent but he wouldn't allow it. He felt sick to his stomach knowing what Ayako must be going through.

He had no doubt they would rape her.

He hoped she was strong enough to get through it. He would be there soon, and every single worthless demon in his way would wish he'd never been born.

Hiei's anger began to revive him. He felt strength come back to him and he smiled wickedly. Kurama spotted the look and quickly interrupted his thoughts.

"We need to rest Hiei, if only for a moment."

Hiei turned his head slowly toward them, never losing that look of assured destruction.

"Hn."

Hiei began to pace while the others watched, feeling the tension in the air build to a breaking point. Kurama looked at his friend and shook his head. Hiei turned and was about to leap off into the trees when a small hand touched his arm.

"Hiei, I need to speak with you."

Hiei looked at the hand resting on his arm and slowly turned his head up to the face it belonged to. He deflated slightly. Kagome.

"Hn." Hiei stalked off into the trees and Kagome hurried after him.

"Listen, Hiei. I know you feel fine and you feel strong but I can see your spirit energy slowly diminishing." She sighed, "I think you need to rest."

Hiei whipped around suddenly, a look of astonishment and anger on his face.

"Rest?" He cursed, "How can I rest when she is in their hands? I'm not stupid in knowing that she will be subject to their grimy paws caressing her young body. They will take her. They will take her over and over again and the faster I get there the less psychological and physical trauma MY beloved has to suffer." Hiei growled the word 'my' with such hatred and malice.

Kagome flinched slightly at his words but nodded her understanding.

"Yes I know Hiei. We all know. Hiei, you cannot hope to save her if the dragon takes over you." Kagome said evenly.

Hiei's eyes widened. "How can you…"

"I can see it. You are fighting harder and faster and longer than all of us. No matter how invincible you think you are the dragon will take over if you do not rest and recover your spirit energy." She said quietly. "Hiei, I've seen what the dragon can do. If you are unable to control it when we finally reach her, you may end up killing her as well."

Hiei turned away in anger, but Kagome noted he deflated even more.

She gave him time. She could only imagine what it would be like to have the one person you cared about more than life taken from you to be tortured and raped. She loved her sister very much and the anger within her felt unbearable. It would be nothing compared to his anger.

"Will you knock me unconscious?" He asked quietly.

She nodded and realized he wasn't facing her. She made a small sound of ascent.

"He hung his head lower. You better do it now, while the wisdom of your words still holds me to this spot."

She walked over and cautiously put a hand on the back of his neck. She searched out the strand of spirit power keeping him awake and severed it. He should be out for hours. He collapsed backwards into her arms and she crumpled under his weight, breaking his fall with her body. She cradled his head in her lap and felt tears run down her face.

It was too much; thinking of her sister in that horrible place. Her heart broke as she sat with Hiei in her lap and she cried for the pain both had suffered. Finally she cleared her throat and called for Inuyasha. She'd told him what she planned to do and he was beside her in a heartbeat, gathering the small fire apparition in his arms. They looked at each other wordlessly and walked back to the rest.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako felt like she'd been hit by a truck. Her body ached in the strangest places and she tried hard not to move. She tried hard not to wake.

Sunlight streaming through the window fell on her face and forced her eyes open. She slowly took in her surroundings. Her eyes settled on the figure sleeping on the chair.

She gasped and woke with a start as foggy images came to her brain. She looked down at her own body and found she was wrapped in a light green yukata. 'That's not right.'

She took in the room around her again, and her eyes rested on her restraints. She followed the chains to the wall behind her and found she was still restrained.

Why couldn't she remember what happened. She tried to get to her feet on the large bed but a sharp pain from between her legs made her fall back down.

She shuffled back until her back was against the wall and she curled her knees up to her head. She slowly rocked back and forth as memory from the night before came back.

She wasn't surprised by what had happened. She was horrified by her reaction. She couldn't believe the betrayal she committed. Willingly. She felt like she was going to be sick. She searched frantically on either side of the bed for a waste bin but found none. She was concentrating hard on not breathing when a container was shoved into her hands.

She threw up the meagre contents of her stomach, and continued to dry heave for another couple minutes. She took the towel that was offered and wiped her mouth before she turned her eyes up to her captor.

The look on his face took her off guard.

He looked haggard and conflicted. There were large dark circles under his eyes, and Ayako presumed he hadn't slept. She didn't know what to say to him, all the angry words died in her throat.

They sat and stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity.

He turned away and his long silver hair hid his face from view. She heard him clear his throat and mentally prepared for his words.

"I hated you. You were the symbol of everything that was taken from me as a child. My family was murdered by your tyrannous parents, and my childhood taken from me." He whispered softly.

"At least that's what I thought."

Ayako's eyes widened. 'What the fuck?'

"I should not feel guilt for what I did to you. I had been waiting for that moment of ultimate conquest for most of my life. The thought of defeating you so thoroughly used to bring a smile to my face." He turned towards her slightly. "Now it makes me sick to my stomach."

"What have you done to me little Kawaridane?" He whispered, mostly to himself.

She sat in stunned silence. What was he saying? He _raped_ her, and now he looked like his world had collapsed.

She didn't lose her anger. She felt violated and used. Worst of all she felt like she betrayed everything she felt for Hiei as her demon side took over and gave in to the dominant male sitting in front of her.

"Say something… please." He pleaded.

"I…." Ayako began. "I don't know what you are thinking. I ask myself, is this another game? Is he still just messing with my head, as you did for months at the compound?"

Ayako felt like screaming in frustration. The demon sitting on the bed turned to face her and she braced herself.

"I can never atone for what I did to you." Kurushimi whispered. Ayako watched his handsome face contort into one of guilt and confusion. "Something happened inside of me after…after…" he trailed off.

She waited for him to continue. There was something he wanted and she was not convinced by this display. It would take much more.

"I couldn't sleep. Memories have assaulted my mind constantly since last night. I feel like my entire world is crumbling around my ears. And you are the cause." He finished softly.

There was a knock at the door that interrupted her thoughts.

"What is it?" He snarled.

"Kurushimi-sama, Nikushimi-sama requests your presence in the throne room immediately. He also said to bring the hanyou." A subordinate voice came from the hall.

He sighed. "I'm on my way!"

He stood up and walked across the room. Grabbing a small kimono from the wardrobe he tossed it to her and released her from her chains.

She dressed quickly like a zombie and allowed him to lead her from the room.

She was so deep in thought about this turn of events she failed to notice the conversation being held about her with Nikushimi.

"I see the bitch looks pleasantly cowed, Kurushimi." He smirked cruelly.

"Hai, Nikushimi-sama, she was not as good as could be expected but she made an entertaining little whore." Kurushimi tried to mimic the smirk and succeeded. He'd done it for real for years…

Nikushimi took in the state of the female hanyou behind his closest subordinate. She indeed looked…different. Spaced out and broken.

"Very good, boy. I'll be heading out to the Eastern outpost for a few hours. Seems the people of this troublesome land are rebelling. I shouldn't be long. Keep an eye on things around here." Nikushimi reached past Kurushimi and grabbed a hold of Ayako's neck chain and gave a sharp pull. He jammed a syringe with the serum in it, in her neck and she began to feel the effects. They were coming slower than usual.

Awareness flashed back into her eyes and she seethed with hatred at the man. He raised his hand and her body became obedient. Her demon and holy energy had not been sealed for some time and her body was resisting but she was so caught off guard she hadn't the time to react. She cursed inwardly. 'Dammit! That was my chance!'

Her body followed the hateful demon meekly as he led her into the center of the room and casually tossed her body towards the other demons gathered. She rolled on the floor like a lifeless doll, as the ten or so lieutenants began watering at the mouth.

"Entertain yourselves. When I return we will quash this rebellion once and for all." With that he released his h old on her and left the room.

She looked around at the faces of the lieutenants and felt panic creep into her mind. She could no longer feel her demon energy again and she hadn't much holy energy left. She remained still, intending to take one out before she was taken away to her gruesome fate.

She was kicked sharply in the ribs by one of the demons and she coughed and spat blood on the floor as she felt hands lift her from behind and hold her upright. Weakly she lifted her right arm and placed it on the demon standing in front of her. With all her will power she grit her teeth and sent the last of her holy power into his brain, killing him instantly. She felt a sharp pain in her abdomen as her newly healed ribs were crushed once again and the right side of her vision exploded as she was struck hard and she felt her body go cold as she hit the floor. As she sank into unconsciousness, she felt a powerful spirit energy surge and the air around her turn frigid.

'I hope I don't wake up for a long time…'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei woke just before dawn on the third day.

He looked around and saw they were indoors for the first time since they'd arrived. He looked around the tent and found his companions sleeping peacefully around him.

He turned to face the door and found Yusuke standing watch.

"Spirit Detective… where…how long?" Hiei spoke quietly.

Yusuke jerked his head in his direction and managed a small smile. "Good morning Hiei."

"Answer me." Hiei growled low.

"It's been a day and a half. We are less than a day from the main keep, and we are currently in one of the rebellion army's camps." Yusuke said solemnly.

Hiei nodded slightly and stretched. The girl had been right. He had needed to rest. Dammit.

Kuwabara began to stir and he sat up, yawning loudly and rubbing his eyes.

"Oh, Hiei. You're up." He said too cheerily.

"Hn." Hiei scowled.

"Geez, always wearing the grumpy pants shrimp. You should consider a change."He grumbled.

"And you should consider not forcing me to kill you." Hiei shot back.

Yusuke snorted. Hiei glared.

"What? That was funny!" Yusuke grinned.

"Hn…"

"Hiei, you're harmonic voice lifts my spirits this early in the morning. Would you sing for me?" A voice came from Hiei's left.

"Stuff it fox, or your mate will not have another child." Hiei growled.

"Well I see everyone's sense of humour and camaraderie is back." Genkai grumbled from Hiei's right, "If you children are finished bickering I believe now is a good time to discuss our final assault, and rescue my daughter."

Yawns and stretches were seen across the room but everyone dragged themselves into the land of the living and strapped on their respective weapons and supplies.

Genkai unfurled the same map from before and spread it on the low table in the center of the tent.

"Now the leader of the rebellion, Shuhan, has informed me that our coming has provided the required catalyst to spark the demons of this land to take up arms." Genkai looked around at all their faces and settled back on the map. "Most of the outposts are already under siege, but he fears without Nikushimi dead, they cannot have ultimate victory."

"I have informed him of our predicament and he has provided me with a description of the main keep and its defences. Apparently one of his lieutenants used to be in the honour guard stationed at the keep." Hiei scowled.

"What, Hiei?" Genkai snapped.

"Nothing, baba… get on with it." He growled back.

"Look Hiei… we'll get her back." Genkai said sincerely.

Shocked faces were seen all around.

Hiei sighed, and motioned for her to continue.

"Anyway, I believe we should do this silently. Unfortunately for us we have no idea if Nikushimi will be there when we infiltrate, but for now our sole purpose is Ayako's rescue. Once we get her out we can worry about an assault at full strength. If an opportunity presents itself to take out either Nikushimi or Kurushimi, you may take it, but remember we want Ayako first and foremost."

Genkai was met with nods.

"We are currently half a day from our destination. If we pace ourselves we can make it their by nightfall and conserve most our energy. Pack up children… let's head out." Genkai finished with a small smile.

Hiei turned away from the rest to gather his things. She would be back in his arms by tonight, and he'd never let her go again.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Kurushimi watched as the demons bent to grab Ayako by the under arms and haul her to her feet. He was secretly fighting an inner battle as he watched Nikushimi walk away and kept track of his presence.

He couldn't understand his new found feelings regarding this matter, but he discovered he couldn't let those demon scum bags touch her either.

He waited until he could no longer sense Nikushimi and finally he let his spirit power flex and flow freely. He watched with a small smile as she managed to kill one of her attackers. She was struck hard and her head hit the floor hard. Kurushimi felt the rage build from within.

Without much thought he stalked towards her and watched the shocked faces of his demon subordinates as he roughly pushed them aside and growled if they tried to get near her.

He gently gathered the small creature in his arms and turned to leave them unharmed.

"What are you doing Kurushimi-sama?! Nikushimi-sama promised we could have a taste of her!" One particularly brave demon shouted at his back.

Kurushimi turned his head slightly to fix ice blue eyes on the imbecile who'd chosen to speak up. Without movement of any kind his eye's flashed and the already icy cold air turned hard and the one who'd spoken found himself encased in ice.

As Kurushimi turned to leave the room the unfortunate demon shattered into thousands of pieces and melted on the floor. The other lieutenants were much smarter, and chose to vacate the area as quickly as possible.

Kurushimi stalked down the halls to his chambers and looked down at the small woman in his arms.

'What have I done now?' He sighed. There's no turning back now.


	22. Escape and Rescue!

**AN: Yay! New Chapter! I don't beg for reviews but they are always great! They motivate me to write faster. This one is dedicated to KaosuMusouka on mediaminer . org . Your review gave me warm fuzzies! Thank you! I do not own…**

Ayako stirred and winced as she turned her head. Her jaw felt like it was bruised. She wasn't surprised. What she saw when she looked around, however, was surprising.

She was back in Kurushimi's bedchambers, fully clothed, on his bed. 'What the fuck?'

"You're surprised I saved you from your fate." A deep voice came from the shadows. Kurushimi walked closer so she could see him in the dim light.

"Why…" it was all she could manage with her face being rearranged like it was.

"I've been asking myself that question for the last few hours." He sighed.

She gave him a puzzled look.

He walked to the edge of the bed near her and sat down, facing mostly away from her. It seemed like he wanted to say something, so she waited.

"I think I'm remembering things. I think being with you has flipped some kind of switch inside me that was turned off since I was a child." He shook his head. "I don't know how, or why, but I can speculate."

"It may be because we are of the same race of demon, and genetically, you are the leader of the clan now. I'm only guessing, but I think Nikushimi made a mistake by allowing me to…do that… to you." He hung his head. "A very large oversight on his part."

"I want you to tell me what you know of me. I know you probably had that annoying ferry girl run back to spirit world and gather my life's history. I want to hear from your mouth what I have begun to suspect since…" He trailed off.

"You're right. I do know. But not from Botan. It was Ketsuji who told us of your sad childhood." She spoke softly and slowly as to not jar her face too much.

"I do not know you're real name. I know you lived with your parents either within these walls or very close. If I were to guess, I would say you were one of my parents' servants' children. I know that everything was happy here until Nikushimi began to invade." She sighed. "Ketsuji said he came across the country side inciting rebellion. Saying my parents were unjust leaders who were plotting terrible deeds after my mother gave birth. The young and the weak minded believed him. The night my sister and I were born true to the prophecy, he tried to kill us in our infancy. A maid of my mother saved Kagome and I. She ran for hours and hours towards the one thing she thought would allow us to escape."

"What was that?" Kurushimi asked quietly.

"The Bone Eater's well." She replied in a whisper.

She waited for his reaction.

His eyes widened. "That is miles from here! No one could make that trip running full out the entire time. It would take at least a day and a half walking. If the maid had no special spirit energy it would've killed her!"

"It did kill her. Or at least, she would've died eventually if Nikushimi's men hadn't found her first." Ayako said evenly.

"Since last night, I am remembering things. Faces… I believe. My parents…" He whispered. "What was the maid's name?"

Ayako studied his face. "I was told she was fondly called Nezumi, or mouse. I am unsure if that is her real name."

His expression softened noticeably. "Perhaps her good deeds can help wipe away my sins." He paused, "I believe that was my mother."

Ayako had sensed that was the case and she allowed him to adjust to this news.

"Nikushimi used that against me. Telling me when I was a child that your mother had killed mine." He looked at her sadly. "She gave her life for you to live and I've spent most of my own life trying to kill the reason for her sacrifice."

Ayako didn't know what to say.

"Will you do something for me?" He asked quietly.

She nodded slowly.

"Would you come up with a name for me? One that may have been mine at one point? Your friends draw near, and there is something I must get for you before they arrive." He said quickly as he stood up.

She nodded again.

He smiled genuinely and hurried out of the room.

'Did he say my friends are close?... Oh Hiei…' She hung her head. She would tell him what had happened here and he would either forgive her or not. If he rejected her she wasn't sure if she'd survive… but she would try.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Night was almost fully upon them as they settled on the outskirts of the main keep. Genkai looked around at her charges. Everyone was antsy. Hiei looked on the verge of explosion.

Genkai smiled. He would get his chance now.

"Does everyone remember the lay out and the points of entry?" Genkai spoke softly.

Nods were seen all around.

"Alright kids turn on your head sets and spread out. On my go, we go save my girl."

There was a flash of movement and then only Yukina remained by her side. The small Koorime demon gave her a sly smile. She was getting to like this very much.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei huddled in his position beside the Spirit Detective and waited for the old woman to say the word. He felt like his limbs were on fire from restraining them for so long. It had been horribly difficult to keep such an easy pace today when he knew a faster one would get him here sooner.

This was killing him.

He had pondered the feeling in the time it had taken him to get out here. This intense worry and fear for Ayako's safety. She meant everything to him, and that scared the shit out of him.

He didn't know what he'd do if he truly lost her.

How had he ever let such a seemingly delicate thing like that wriggle her way into his heart and under his skin? There was no way to rid himself of her now and he certainly didn't want to.

He couldn't even remember when he'd started to see her as something other than Genkai's daughter. He thought back to when this all started and knew it was before then. He had been in denial then, and it had taken that smug fox flirting with her to make him understand his predicament. He remembered how his blood boiled when the fox had kissed the back of her hand.

Hiei stifled a chuckle. That bastard knew him better than he knew himself.

Even before that he had been chasing off all prospective boyfriends for the girl. He would see her when she was younger get upset when one she _thought_ she liked in particular, never called her back. It had more to do with fear of the protective fire demon than her charms. The local human boys practically tripped over their own feet and drooled openly when she was only 15.

No, Hiei wasn't sure when he began to feel more than platonically for the miko. He knew that he'd been secretly protective of her for at least that long. Her warm genuine smiles and her lack of fear and disgust with him had earned her a place close to his heart.

Now she held it firmly in the palm of her hand.

If she were to die, his heart would die along with her. It terrified him.

Hiei looked over at Yusuke who seemed to also be deep in thought about Kami-knows-what. Yusuke caught the movement and turned towards him. He grinned that big arrogant smile he had before most fights. Hiei smirked in return. They both heard there radio's crackle and Genkai's voice signalling them to move out, and with a flash they were both gone.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Tenmei. It meant God's will, or destiny. It also meant dawn and Ayako thought it was fitting. Kurushimi had had one hell of a spin with fate and a rebirth of sorts was in order for his new name.

It may not have been what his mother named him, but Ayako liked it. She was sitting on his bed in a freshly cleaned sparring outfit. It had black under-body with a green and white-trimmed over-part, cinched at the waist with a white obi.

She loved this style of clothing that Genkai and Kurama favoured so much. When she got home she had to go out and get more. She smiled.

She couldn't wait to kill that bastard Nikushimi and go home with Hiei. She really had no interest in ruling a whole region of the Makai. She'd have to figure out what to do later.

She heard movement in the hall and she leapt towards the darkness of the closet, just in case it wasn't Kurushimi and she had to kill the would-be assassin.

The door opened slowly and Ayako crouched low extending her claws, ready to spring into action.

Ayako relaxed as she saw who it was.

Kurushimi had a something under his arm. It looked long on and thin, but it was wrapped thickly in an old blanket.

Ayako felt the small green pendant around her neck warm. She had forgotten all about it. She grasped the small thing in her hand.

"Uta no Fuyu." She whispered softly.

Kurushimi smiled and unwrapped the object in his arms. It was a katana. It was _her_ katana. Her birthright.

"Hai, The Song of Winter for the first daughter. It has been down in the vaults under the keep for its mere presence makes Nimushimi…uneasy." He said and held it out to her.

She approached him slowly and took the katana from his hands. The hilt felt warm in her grasp as she drew the sword and held it in front of her.

She closed her eyes as an invigorating sensation flooded her body from where her hand touched the hilt. The sword was… singing?

She opened her eyes and looked the question at Kurushimi.

He nodded, "I can hear it."

She listened intently as the blade seemed to resonate happiness and fulfillment. They were finally together after so long a wait.

Ayako sheathed it and walked over to Kurushimi's desk. She found a long black sash and fastened both ends of it to both ends of the sheath. She then looped it over her shoulder and across her chest so the sword rested comfortably on her back, the hilt within reach of her right hand.

She turned and smiled at the demon standing behind her. He looked…antsy.

She turned her head to the side quizzically.

"Ano… Ayako-san, have you… I mean did you…think of a name…for me?" He said hesitantly and blushed.

Ayako almost giggled at the taller handsome demon whom, 48 hours ago, was her worst enemy next to Nikushimi.

She nodded, and he looked up expectantly.

"Tenmei." She said softly.

He pondered the name, and its meaning. He smiled.

"It's perfect." He said softly.

They stood in comfortable silence. The silence was broken by a particularly large explosion.

"Oh shit. Right. You have a crazy boyfriend that wants to kill me and frankly I don't blame him, but if he finds me before the situation is explained I'm afraid I may be a bloody paste of demon mess in no time." Tenmei grinned sheepishly.

"You stole the katana; you went against the orders of Nikushimi to save me from his thugs. You can't stay here. I have a feeling my friends are only here for me. They would wait for the rebel army to launch a full-scale attack on the keep. Come with me. I'll keep them from killing you I promise." She smiled.

He nodded. "I will get my revenge on Nikushimi… When the time comes."

She nodded. He turned and ran for the door and she followed quickly.

'Hiei, I'll see you soon.'

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Impatience.

That's what caused Hiei to blow up that sentry station. He knew it wasn't very "stealth" of him but he felt like he was going to explode.

"Holy Shit Hiei! Give a guy some warning before pulling the walls down around my ears!" Yusuke shouted.

Hiei resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The Spirit Detective could be so dramatic.

"I've caught her scent Spirit Detective. It's mostly blood." Hiei replied darkly.

Yusuke's face darkened in turn.

"Why the fuck didn't you say so in the first place?!" Yusuke shouted and turned his nose to the air. He wasn't full blooded demon so he had to work harder to catch it.

"Got it?" Hiei asked quickly.

Yusuke nodded and took off towards the opening in the wall Hiei had conveniently opened up. Hiei was on his heels as they flew through corridors. In no time they had arrived in what looked like a throne room.

Hiei growled when he followed the scent trail to a particularly strong spot where there appeared to be chains attached to the wall.

Yusuke scowled at the blots of blood that had dried on the floor around the spot. "Fucking bastards…" he spat vehemently.

Hiei turned as his sharp hearing picked up a number of pounding feet heading in their direction. He was about to speak when, "Seems like we're gonna have company…" Yusuke already knew.

Hiei smirked and drew his katana. He would enjoy tearing apart these scummy excuses for demon blood. By the look on Yusuke's face he would enjoy it just as much.

The demons flooded the chamber from two separate corridors; seemed to be around 30.

"Keh, too easy." Yusuke said disdainfully and leapt into action, taking those that came from the right.

Hiei said nothing and cut through the first four demons as if they were nothing. His eyes clouded over until all he saw was red.

His sword swung quickly and efficiently. To an outside observer his movements were so quick and fluid they were hard to follow. On the other side of the room Yusuke was breaking necks like they were toothpicks. He hadn't even bothered to use much spirit power, not for these lowly dirtbags.

Too late the lowly Karyuudo realized there mistake and tried to escape. Hiei was in front of them in a flash and they were down just as quickly. Yusuke pegged off the last runners with a shot from his spirit gun.

The room became eerily quiet.

Hiei walked back over to the spot Ayako had obviously been restrained and beaten. He felt sick to his stomach as he sorted through the various scents until he found hers once again. He closed his eyes and allowed his Jagan eye to probe the walls around them.

He had found her. She was with that bastard Kurushimi. They were on the move. He was trying to escape with her. Hiei cursed.

Yusuke was looking at him expectantly.

Hiei jerked his head in the direction of the corridor directly in front of them and took off in a flash towards Ayako's presence.

Hiei became more and more confused as he got closer. Her aura seemed perfectly healthy. If Kurushimi was controlling her mind, her energies should be severely suppressed and her life force weaker from the abuse she'd taken.

Something wasn't right.

She was just ahead. Heading towards them. They rounded the next bend and came to a small courtyard. Hiei watched as Ayako ran out of the corridor across from them, followed closely by that bastard Kurushimi. Ayako was running towards him and Hiei was crouched low about to let loose the dragon on this bastards ass.

"Hiei don't!" Ayako shouted and wrapped her arms around him.

Hiei was so stunned he did stop. He could smell that bastard on her. He had raped her, within the last 48 hours. Hiei roughly pushed Ayako behind him. He had heard of rape victims protecting their attackers but this was Ayako…

"No Hiei! You don't understand! He's changed! Please listen to me!" Ayako pleaded with him.

Hiei restrained himself but he didn't face her. Yusuke spoke instead.

"What the fuck are you talking about Ayako?! This bastard _raped_ you! I can smell it!" Yusuke shouted.

Ayako turned. "I know. Just please! Do you see this? This is my birthright. He stole it for me. He saved me from being gang raped by Nikushimi's lieutenants. I will explain everything! Please just trust me! We have to get out of here now!"

Hiei turned and looked from Kurushimi to Ayako.

It was true the tall bastard had lost that smug look from before. He looked…ashamed.

He growled. He still didn't like it.

Yusuke was staring at Ayako. He nodded slowly. And pressed the receiver on his neck for the head sets. He spoke quickly into it saying they'd found Ayako and were retreating to the rendezvous point. Yusuke got a confirmation from the rest.

Yusuke walked over to Kurushimi. "You go ahead so I can keep an eye on you."

Kurushimi nodded passively and began walking where Yusuke prodded him too.

Hiei turned and faced Ayako. He wanted answers, but he knew he'd have to wait till they were out of enemy territory. He turned to follow Yusuke when Ayako grabbed his arm.

He didn't face her but he could smell the tears.

"Hiei… please understand…" Hiei didn't. He couldn't.

He sighed, kicking his pride momentarily. If he didn't give her some indication he still loved her he'd be doing exactly what he'd done back in December.

He turned and brushed the tears off her face gently. "Make me understand."

Ayako's tear streaked face looked up into his. She nodded slowly.

"I will." She said softly. "I'm so sorry."

Hiei wasn't sure what exactly she was sorry for but he was afraid he wouldn't like it one bit.

He nodded and grabbed her hand, tugging it gently.

"Let's get back to everyone." He said softly.

She dropped his hand and took off after Yusuke, into the darkness.

Hiei's heart was breaking and pounding with relief at the same time. What the hell happened?

**AN: Oh and the garment Ayako is wearing is the one Kurama wears all the time when they are fighting. Genkai and Hiei wore them during the Dark Tournament as well. I don't know what they are called but I like them.**


	23. Never Again

**AN: Sorry this took so long. Having a full time job for the summer cuts down on my free time to be creative. I'll try to update as much as possible. This is the edited version. Unedited version on mediaminer. Link in my profile. I do not own.**

Kagome practically tackled her sister as they emerged into the clearing where the rebel camp had just been established. Ayako held her tightly as Kagome cried and apologized for getting caught and getting her in this mess. Ayako murmured soothing words. It wasn't her fault. Really…

They broke apart and Ayako gave her a small smile, which Kagome returned, a bit tearfully.

Her heart warmed as she saw her companions and the love they had for her. Then she looked over at Hiei.

Her heart froze. He looked so torn. She excused herself from the group and walked over to him. The group behind her turned their attention to Kurushimi. She didn't care. They wouldn't hurt him… too badly.

Hiei turned and looked at her as she approached. She stood right in front of him and tentatively reached for his hand. He held it lightly.

"Let's go somewhere… we can talk." She whispered.

Hiei nodded and scooped her into his arms and shot through the trees. She had no idea how long they were running when she saw a small grotto ahead. He ducked through the small opening and she was delighted to find that the small shelter contained a hot spring.

Hiei set her down and she walked slowly to the edge of the pool and sat down. She removed her small shoes and rolled up her pant legs as she let her legs dangle into the warm waters.

She turned her head towards the entrance where Hiei was rooted to the spot. She smiled slightly and looked back towards the water.

"I'm sorry Hiei… this is so messed up." She choked out.

She heard him approach slowly and sit next to her, however, not as close as she would have liked. She took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry I was so reckless. I never even thought of how easily the mark could be over ridden." She shook her head as tears began to fall. "So stupid…" She spat the last word as if it was a curse.

"My first day in captivity was relatively tame. They kept me doped on that suppressant so I was like my old human self… no holy powers, no demon powers either. They seemed to get a sick pleasure from just watching me bleed after beating me almost senseless. I really don't remember much about it."

Ayako failed to notice how Hiei tensed up at her words.

"They didn't like that I wouldn't submit. No matter how badly beaten I was they hated the look in my eyes." She sighed, "I wasn't strong. It was thoughts of you that kept me defiant. I'm afraid it probably wasn't smart, but I didn't care."

"Somehow I managed to take a swipe at Nikushimi. He lost it. My head felt like a punching bag and he ordered Kurushimi to 'deal' with me." The tears were flowing harder now. She took a deep breath. "Something happened to me."

She choked back a sob. "I resisted as best I could but…"

A deep baritone interrupted her "But your intended was claiming you and the demon inside you responded."

She gasped and looked at him. "How…"

Hiei shook his head and growled, "I've been a demon much longer than you… I know the pull of our instincts." He cursed.

She turned her gaze back to the water. "I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop him and… and…" She couldn't finish her sentence.

He cursed again and Ayako cried harder. What had she done to them….

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Hiei saw too late what his reaction was doing to her. She thought he was angry with her!

He got up quickly and pulled her up into his arms. She sobbed harder.

He stroked her hair as she clung to his body tightly. "I'm not angry with you… I'm angry at myself koishii."

She gulped and looked into his face, confused.

His arms tightened around her. "If I hadn't let you out of my sight, if I wouldn't have played around and claimed you as mine and only mine so long ago…"

She reached up to stroke his cheek.

"Let's fix this…" She whispered.

His eyes widened. "I thought you wanted to… take it slow."

"Its obvious none of this would've happened if we would've been fully mated. I don't want anyone but you. I wanted to go slow because my own pride cringed at forgiving you so easily." She shook her head angrily. "It seems I was the one to be stubborn and prideful this time."

"Not again. Hiei…" She whispered.

His body responded instantly. She would finally be his. She was asking him to claim her for good. After loving her for so long, his soul called for her.

His arms tightened around her. "We are going to do this right."

She nodded slowly as his gaze raked over her small form. He reached behind her and untied the small white obi she wore. His fingers moving painfully slow. He heard her breath catch in her throat as he let the sash drop from his fingers. He grasped the front edge of the cloth and unravelled it from her body. She stood completely still as he walked around her, peeling the garment from sweat kissed skin. She stood before him in just the black under clothes. His fingers brushed over skin as he tugged the billowy black haori over her head. She wasn't wearing a bra… Hiei didn't care to think where it had gone. That was in the past.

His hands trailed down her sides until his fingers were hooked in the waist band of the black hakama she wore. She shivered under his touch and Hiei loved the look on her face. Her eyes were closed and her lips slightly parted. Her skin glowed in the dim light of the grotto, her hair clinging to her damp skin.

His heart was pounding so hard he was sure she could hear it. He got to his knees slowly as he took her hakama with him. He held her steady as he lifted her feet and removed the cloth from around her legs. He rose up to his full height and gazed wantonly on her fully exposed body. He grit his teeth as her hand reached up to gently rest on his chest. Kami, how a simple touch from her could unravel him completely, he didn't know.

He allowed her to walk around him, his eyes following her lithe form. Her small pert breasts held his gaze until she was out of sight behind him. Seems she was going to have some fun of her own. Not allowing him to look at her as she reached around to undo the belts around his waist. His own hakama slid dangerously low on his hips but she ignored them. She instead tugged his shirt up around his head and pulled it off, letting it fall carelessly from her small fingers.

Hiei knew this was part of the game, but not being able to watch her was killing him. The anticipation was becoming unbearable. A low growl escaped his lips as her hands trailed down his back and pushed lightly on his hakama, making them fall off his hips to the floor of the grotto. Hiei couldn't take it anymore. He spun around so quickly it took her off guard and he walked them both into the warm waters of the hot spring.

She gasped softly as Hiei began slowly kissing her face, then her neck, and collarbone. She remained motionless as he sunk to his knees in the shallow water and ran his hands over her body. He took one small pink nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, causing her to arch into his touch. His hands gripped her hips firmly as he lavished her breasts with attention. Ayako curled her fingers into his hair making Hiei smirk into her chest.

He was determined to bring the sex kitten out of her this time.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

He collapsed on top of her quietly licking the rapidly appearing mark on his mate's neck. She purred softly as he stroked her face with his free hand.

They didn't speak for a long time.

When the silence was finally broken it was something that caught Hiei completely off guard.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Ayako felt her body tingling all over. She had little whorls of pleasure curling up and down her body all the way to her toes. She felt the mark on her neck ad knew for a certain fact that they were mated.

Wait.

How did that happen? They didn't do anything special, or different than last time. Except this time was… mind blowing.

"How are we mated this time and not last time?" She spoke before she even knew she meant to.

Hiei had raised himself off her and was stroking her face gently when she spoke. Her words caught him off guard, she could tell.

He smirked slowly, then began to all out chuckle at her. Hiei was chuckling! God where was a video camera when you needed one!

She smiled slowly, not caring that his laughter was at her expense. It was so rare to see him smile so openly.

When his laughter finally died down she waited patiently for him to answer.

"You are so young and naïve koishii." He said softly in that deep voice that made her shiver inside.

She pouted and he laughed again. She could get used to hearing him laugh.

"We are mated this time simply because we intended it to be so. The first time we were together neither of us intended anything more than being together. This time we went into it with full intention of mating as demons and an instinctual switch was flipped, so to speak." He cupped her cheek. "Demons run mostly on instinct you know."

She snorted, "Yeah I noticed."

He ran a calloused thumb across her cheek and she snuggled closer to his body.

He kissed her forehead as she felt herself drifting off to sleep.

"No one will take you from me again koishii." He whispered.

She smiled slowly in response and let sleep claim her.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

Genkai was scowling at their new guest who insisted they call him Tenmei. She huffed and wished Ayako was here to confirm this demon's story. Yet she knew exactly why her daughter needed privacy. Hiei would not risk losing her again and that meant one thing only. They all knew the pair would come back fully mated.

But Kurushimi's presence was troublesome. The rebels wanted to have a piece of him and Genkai didn't blame them. This demon was the right hand man of the devil as far as they were concerned and they wanted to pay him back for the suffering they had caused.

She couldn't help but admit that this demon was much different than the one she had seen just a few days ago. His arrogance was gone and he looked…humble. According to him after being with Ayako his mind began to remember things from his childhood that Nikushimi made him forget. Genkai knew demons had a certain connection to their own race and the leaders of the pack. Ayako was technically the leader and through his interaction with her and their shared racial background his consciousness was awakened by it.

It made sense to her but she still didn't like it. She needed Ayako here to confirm his story and get the damn rebels off her back.

Plus they needed to discuss their plans for the final assault.

She cursed. Those two probably wouldn't be back until early tomorrow morning. She sighed and ordered Kurushimi be put in a private tent under guard. She needed sleep and so did her children. They all appeared to be puppets that'd had their strings of tension cut. They'd looked like that since Ayako walked into camp unscathed. Well almost unscathed.

Genkai stalked off to her tent and crawled into her cot. Tomorrow shit would definitely be hitting the fan.


	24. The Battle

The sun was just beginning to lighten the eastern sky when Genkai spotted the couple. They emerged slowly from the shadow of the trees, walking close together, practically fused at the hip.

She sighed. Finally.

Silently Ayako stepped forward and embraced her adopted mother warmly. A whispered thank you was heard and Genkai fought back the tears that were sure to gather in her eyes. Ayako released her and stepped back. Genkai looked at Hiei and he nodded slightly. She responded with a ghost of a smile and a nod of her own.

Good. It was done.

"Ayako, we need you to confirm … Tenmei's story to the rebels. They are antsy with him around." She said softly.

Ayako nodded and stalked off toward the leader's tent.

"Hiei. What is her plan?" Yusuke entered the clearing with the others following close behind.

"She believes he will assist us. He is reformed, or perhaps simply re-informed." Hiei jerked his head in the direction of the guarded tent.

Genkai nodded and the companions settled down to await Ayako and the rebel leaders. The main assault would happen today, and everyone was tense with anticipation.

An hour or so passed, the sun was getting closer and closer to rising,

'They needed to get underway!' Genkai grumbled and turned as Kurama rose.

Ayako approached slowly, the rebel leaders and Tenmei in tow. She nodded to the taller demon and he stepped forward.

"Today will be the day we all get our revenge on the hatred that has befallen this land. Nikushimi knows of my defection but he is careless. He believes all of us, to be of no threat to him. We will show him the error of his ways." Tenmei began.

"The ranks of Nikushimi's men are loose. Any shake or severe break in morale will rip them apart. If Nikushimi is defeated the Karyuudo will flee. Their loyalties are not strong enough to carry on without the threat of Nikushimi's presence." Ayako continued.

"Right, so all that needs to be done is to execute him, publicly." Tenmei growled. "I can help a small number of us sneak in the back, all that is needed of the Rebel forces is to hold the main armies attention until I can lure Nikushimi between them to kill him."

"Hold it! Why do you get to kill him…? Ayako's been-" Yusuke began but Ayako cut him off with a glance.

"It's alright Yusuke. We've discussed this and though Nikushimi has always been out to kill me and Kagome he slaughtered Tenmei's family and subjected him to severe mental manipulation to turn him against his people. He deserves this retribution." She said quietly.

Yusuke nodded. "Fine. What do we have to do?"

Ayako grinned. "We," she gestured around the circle, "will enter the palace through a servant's tunnel that extends under our feet. The palace will be mostly empty; Nikushimi knows the rebel army will attack today so he has everyone prepared to face the onslaught behind the main gate. We need to ensure the Karyuudo see Nikushimi's death, so we must kill him on top of the battlements. The main gate will be perfect. Once Tenmei engages him, we must hold off all aid until he is dead. The Karyuudo will flee, I'm sure of it."

Genkai nodded. It sounded good. "Not all of us will go in. Some of us need to stay with the rebel army. Kagome, Inuyasha, Yukina and Kuwabara will stay. Kurama, Hiei, Ayako, Yusuke and I will go in. Is everyone prepared, we must start immediately the sun is rising…"

Nods were seen all around. The rebel army leader grimaced. "Let's get this over with…"

Genkai turned to Tenmei. "Lead the way to this tunnel."

Tenmei turned and took off running. The others following quickly behind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ayako breathed steadily. Adrenalin surged through her veins. Finally, this nightmare would end.

A short distance away Tenmei drew their group to a halt and knelt on the forest floor, digging through the undergrowth. His hand grasped the handle and he heaved. A square trap door groaned and Hiei and Kurama helped him push it fully open. Ayako hopped down through the hole and allowed her demon senses to quickly adjust to the dark tunnel.

"All clear!" She called up and the rest dropped down quickly, Tenmei coming last and closing the trap door behind them. It was horrible cramped in the tunnel, the taller members of there party having to stoop considerably. Ayako moved freely down the tunnel towards the palace, the others followed silently behind her. They could tell by the change in the soil that they were within the walls. The smell of rich forest loam turned to a lighter dust and sandy composition. The lack of organic material a dead give away.

Ayako saw the end up ahead and had a moment of recall. This was the very tunnel that the servant who saved her and her sister had used. She silently thanked the brave woman once again and turned back to her companions.

"I don't sense anyone above, but I'll look around to be sure." Ayako whispered.

Hiei nodded to her and she climbed the rickety ladder up to the trap door. She applied gentle pressure and the door popped open with a snap. She winced and held completely still. Hearing nothing she opened it enough to look around.

She threw the trap door open silently and leapt out into the open, beckoning the rest to follow her. They were in a small room obviously used to store the servants cleaning supplies. Ayako moved to the door and peeked out. Behind her the others were emerging from the tunnel. Tenmei approached her and looked out the door above her. If the situation wasn't so serious she would have giggled. He was so much taller than her; they probably looked ridiculous.

She could feel Hiei behind her and welcomed his presence. His emotions coming through their bond calmed her. He was completely at ease. This was his kind of environment; battle. She grinned.

"Alright. We are a fair distance from the main gate. If you sense anyone along the way do not hesitate to dispose of them quietly. Our coming must be a surprise. No one speaks until we are can see the Karyuudo army. Then we will decide how to isolate Nikushimi, I have ideas as I'm sure you all do as well. We must survey the area before deciding, however, so keep it up here 'til then." Tenmei tapped the side of his head and silence was his only reply.

Ayako allowed her senses to fully open. She could feel the presence of a couple demons here and there; no one would be discovering them until it was absolutely necessary.

Tenmei lead the way out of the room followed closely by Ayako, Hiei, Kurama, Yusuke and Genkai. Tenmei kept to the path and the others darted off every now and then to dispose of a threat. No one spoke. There was no need. They were focused and they had been trained well. They all suppressed there demon and in Ayako's case, her holy presence as much as possible. It was a difficult thing to do while in combat but it was absolutely necessary until they engaged the enemy.

It took longer than Ayako expected to reach the front doors. They emerged slowly from a tunnel into the main hall and saw guards dotting the wall, they were taken care of quickly and then the group followed Tenmei up onto a balcony that had access to a window outside. They all took turns surveying the enemy and then gathered a ways from the opening to discuss strategy.

Nikushimi was, not surprisingly, at the back of the forces. Just on the other side of the doors they saw in front and below them.

"Alright kiddies," Genkai began. "What's the plan? The battlements above the gate have at least 20 demon archers engaging the rebel army and the rest seem to just be standing around."

"I think the direct approach is best." Yusuke piped in. "Tenmei, Kurama, Hiei and I leap to the battlements and clear out the demons there. Ayako and Genkai grab Nikushimi and forcefully bring him to the battlements. Tenmei gets his fight and the rest of us hold off any wannabe heroes from the Karyuudo side."

Everyone looked around. It sounded good. Besides it would take too long to devise a plan to lure Nikushimi up there. He wasn't that stupid.

Genkai rummaged in her pack and turned to Ayako, holding a long coil of rope.

"Infuse this with some holy binding energy. It will not hold him for long, but it will be long enough to move him without getting into a battle ourselves." She said quietly.

Ayako nodded and took the rope in her hands. Pushing aside her demon side she brought her holy powers to the surface. They came with the ease of long practice and she opened her eyes to see the rope glow softly with a purple light and fade to normal.

Hiei backed away as she turned. Any demon that touched it would get a nasty shock.

They spoke quickly, sorting out the details of the capture and move. Ayako smiled to her friends and nodded.

"Let's do this." With that Ayako handed Genkai one end of the rope and held tightly to her end and the majority of the coil. She crawled into the window, which was really just an opening in the wall, and she flash stepped away. The others watched as shock registered on the face of Nikushimi. She was so fast he couldn't see her until he was on his knees from pain and she stood with a grin in front of him.

"Alright Genkai! Do it!" She called and turned to the demon masses to face the onslaught.

Tenmei, Kurama, Hiei and Yusuke made quick work of the demons on the main battlements and a shout of victory from the rebel army beyond could be heard.

Genkai literally swung Nikushimi up on to the battlements with the rope and then leapt down beside Ayako to face the Karyuudo while Tenmei fought.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tenmei breathed deeply as she watched Nikushimi shake off the coils of rope and stand to his full height. They were both tall for demons and Tenmei knew that his small height advantage had always bothered Nikushimi. The arrogant bastard never wanted to be seen as smaller than anyone, and so whenever they were together in front of the men Nikushimi always stood on a dais and he stood below it so the height difference couldn't be seen.

The others were already engaged in small battles holding off the Karyuudo. He had a good idea who would be trying the hardest. The lieutenants would emerge soon and then his companions may start having trouble. They were all good fighters, and could most likely handle them one on one but that wasn't the case today. The only one on one battle would be his, and for the sake of his friends and the lives of the demons in the rebel army he best finish this quickly.

"Kurushimi, I wondered when you would show yourself and take your pitiful revenge." Tenmei winced at his former name; it meant anguish, pain, and suffering. He despised it. That was no longer who he was. The demon in front of him had made him that way, and he had finally broken free. He would prove that he wasn't that demon anymore.

"Nikushimi. No words can describe my hatred for you. Let's not speak. I'm here to end you." Tenmei spoke quietly and leaped at the demon standing in front of him.

They had fought many times as allies. They trained together all the time when Tenmei was a child and when he had grown to an adult. Hundreds of years.

They feinted and thrust, blocking and deflecting easily. Nikushimi began to chuckle.

"No speaking my loyal apprentice?" Nikushimi laughed harder. "I'm bored with that. Your speech was so profound I half expected you to kill me immediately, but now I see you're still the snivelling brat I salvaged from that noble family I slaughtered years ago."

Tenmei didn't react. He knew the taunts would come, he was prepared. He was actually counting on it. He was counting on one thing in particular. Ayako and he had planned this extensively ahead of time, and she was ready for the signal.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye and spotted her engaged in a battle at the front doors. She was moving gracefully, and killing swiftly. She was fine.

Nikushimi followed the direction of his gaze and grinned menacingly. "The Kawaridane brat eh? I can kill you with out her but watching your face as I kill her may be interesting."

Nikushimi turned and raised his handle slowly. Tenmei shouted loudly "NO! AYAKO!" He saw her snap to attention and halt all her movements.

Nikushimi laughed heartily and beckoned with her hand. Ayako leapt to the battlements her face completely blank as she faced Nikushimi.

Tenmei growled as Nikushimi brought her into his arms and turned her so she was facing away from him.

Ayako's face lost the blank look for a spilt second as she winked at Tenmei and then resumed her role.

Everything was going exactly as planned. Tenmei suppressed a grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hiei heard Tenmei give the signal. And watched as Ayako assumed her role. The plan was brilliant. Tenmei had enlightened them all inside as to his and Ayako's agreed upon plan. Hiei had protested at first, for it put Ayako in a significant amount of danger, but his mate had glared at him and told him to stuff it. She could handle herself.

Hiei had gotten separated from the others in the heat of the battle. He could sense the others around him were beginning to tire as well. These Karyuudo were endless.

His katana swung effortlessly, cutting down any who dared to approach the fight behind him. He wondered absently how long it would take. He was considerably bad ass but an endless swarm of demons would tire him completely eventually. He could sense a few demons with a considerable amount of power farther in the crowd. He could tell they were coming for them. Hiei grit his teeth and gathered his power around him. Let them come.

A figure emerged from the crowd. By his dress and the reactions of the demons around him, he was most likely an officer. He was definitely more powerful than the peons surrounding them and Hiei grinned. Finally a challenge.

He sensed more of the lieutenants heading for his companions. He glanced over at Kurama and his companion met his gaze. He promised Ayako he wouldn't let anything happen to any of them and he intended to keep that promise. With that he turned to face his new opponent.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kagome watched the battle unfold before her eyes. Her friends on the inside were engaging the enemy keeping them away from the battle on top of the gate and the rebel army had pushed forward with the loss of the archers on the wall. The gates had been broken down and all hell had broken loose.

She spotted her sister upon the wall standing in front of Nikushimi. She didn't know what was happening but she knew for sure her sister wasn't under mind control. Her bond with Hiei was unbreakable now and so Kagome assumed it was a clever ruse to kill the demon once and for all.

Kagome broke from her staring to resume her firing on the enemy. She could see the others were engaged in some serious battles of their own and prayed for their safety.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ayako felt the others begin to strain under the pressure. She held her composure but she could tell the breaking point was soon to be reached. Tenmei's plan was brilliant; all they needed now was fro Nikushimi to play into their hands.

"Kurushimi, you seem so taken with the little Kawaridane. Perhaps I should have you sit still like a good boy as I slit her throat? Or… maybe she should kill you. Yes that sounds like much more fun. Come along darling." Nikushimi purred.

Ayako felt a blade pressed to her neck as she started towards Tenmei. She could feel Hiei's strain through their connection and she was getting anxious. Without warning she felt Kurama's youki flare and begin to die out.

Her mind screamed! Not Kurama! He's going to be a father! She kept her face blank but she couldn't stop the tears from leaking from her eyes.

"Seems her mind still fights the control. Look she's crying for you Kurushimi." Nikushimi laughed.

Ayako kept putting one foot in front of the other. She felt another surge of Youki as Yusuke suffered a massive blow. They were being overwhelmed!!

'Closer, closer… You will be dead soon you evil bastard.' Nikushimi moved his hand and Ayako guessed from his movement the time had almost come. She slowly began pulling her katana from the sheath, and pointed it at Tenmei.

"On your knees Kurushimi. My hand is clumsy and could slip at any moment." Ayako felt a hot pain on the side of her throat. "Oops. I seem to have cut her. Don't worry its still shallow. She won't bleed out, yet."

Ayako's expression didn't change. Tenmei watched her face intently as he got to his knees. The moment was close.

Ayako could feel Kurama's energy fading quickly. 'If they didn't finish this up quickly her promise to Shizuru… NO. She would finish this and he would be fine. She couldn't think of what would happen if she didn't.'

"Come on darling; raise that arm higher, you have to remove his head cleanly from his body, no resisting now." Nikushimi chuckled darkly.

Ayako looked Tenmei directly in the face. He nodded imperceptibly and she let a small grin crease her face. She waited for Nikushimi to give the order.

"Kill him."

Tenmei leapt forward as she spun quickly and stabbed Nikushimi through the chest. Tenmei's claws were buried in his chest where the despicable demons heart was.

Ayako's ears were ringing. She dropped her blade and pressed her hand against her neck. Nikushimi had twitched when she turned and had treated her to a deep gash in the throat. Her carotid artery was nicked, she ignored it. She had lost sense of Kurama's youki.

She heard herself calling his name as she leapt to the ground and searched for him frantically. She spotted him lying on the ground and Hiei was battling fiercely over top of him. She noticed vaguely as the demons began to disperse. They were running wildly and the courtyard was a cacophony of noise but all Ayako could hear was her own harsh breathing and her heart pounding in her ears.

She fell to her knees next to Kurama's still form and turned him over. His eyes were closed and Ayako leaned in close to check if he was breathing. She felt for a pulse and couldn't find one.

She screamed her frustration and brought all the holy power she could muster to her hands. Blood seeped freely down her neck as she shocked Kurama's heart. Her vision swam as she checked for a pulse. Not finding on she shocked him again and checked again. Nothing.

She cried her frustration as she gathered the last of her strength to her hands and shocked him hard. She fell forward across his body and could feel herself beginning to blackout.

She fought the pain until a sound made her give in.

The slow pounding of Kurama's heartbeat.


	25. Epilogue

Ayako grinned as she watched Hiei wrestle with Kurama and Shizuru's son, Akashi.

Shizuru was sitting beside her and Kurama was out in the clearing with his son and best friend giving him tips on how to take Hiei down.

"I don't think I've ever seen Hiei smile so freely." Shizuru commented lightly beside her. Ayako grinned and nodded.

Things had finally returned to a measure of normalcy in their little world. It had been just over a year since the battle in the Makai where Ayako almost lost her life trying to save Kurama's. Her sister had sensed her rage and frustration and had found her sprawled across Kurama's unconscious form bleeding freely as Hiei was attempting to gather her up and stop the bleeding.

If her sister hadn't stopped the bleeding when she did…

Ayako sighed. That was all behind her now. As they predicted, when Nikushimi had taken his last vile breath the Karyuudo had fled. The rebel army celebrated and she had woken up a couple days later.

She and Kagome discussed what would happen to their ancestral home and had come to the same conclusion. They asked Tenmei to watch over it for them. They would be returning to the Makai when the Ningenkai held nothing more for them and would resume their duties then. For now, they still had their twisted family here, in Genkai's compound and they would stay with it for as long as they could.

Tenmei had been adamant that they choose someone else but they insisted he was the only one who could handle the job. Eventually he relented.

The rebel army had dispersed but some had stayed to assist in rebuilding the palace guard. The servants returned and peace spread across the Northern Makai for the first time in a century.

Ayako giggled as Hiei took a blow to the stomach and fell over comically for little Akashi. The boy had Kurama's bright red hair and green eyes. Hence the "Aka" in his name. His spirit was entirely his mother, Shizuru. He already had a 'don't mess with me' attitude that was reminiscent of Shizuru and she grinned with pride every time Ayako brought it up.

Kurama beckoned Shizuru over as Hiei made his way towards them.

"The man is calling me…" Shizuru laughed and jumped to her feet.

"Mommy Mommy look!" Akashi pointed, "I gave Uncle Hiei a buise."

"Bruise honey, and High five!" Shizuru grinned and Akashi giggled as he slapped his mother's hand.

Ayako grinned as Hiei settled down beside her.

"Getting beat up by toddler's now Hiei?" She teased.

"Hn… shut it woman." Hiei put an arm around her and she leaned into his warmth.

They sat in comfortable silence.

"The kid is tough. He will make his father proud." He said quietly. Ayako sat back and looked him in the face. She could tell this was going somewhere but didn't want to rush him.

"Hn. Stop looking at me like that woman." He growled.

Ayako laughed lightly. "Like what?"

Hiei didn't reply.

"The brat isn't as annoying as I expected… I wouldn't mind seeing more around." Hiei said quietly.

Ayako grinned. She knew what he meant. She had been waiting for the right moment to tell him anyway. She was surprised he didn't already know but Genkai had told her that it was her holy energy blocking Hiei's senses about it.

"Well that reminds me Hiei… I have something to tell you." Ayako grinned and Hiei looked shocked.

Ayako nodded and grabbed his hand. She suppressed her holy powers and pressed his hand to her lower abdomen. His eyes got wider and his face broke into a smile like no other she'd ever seen.

"I'm going to be a father?" He asked stunned as he felt the life stirring inside her.

She nodded slowly and he kissed her hard.

She melted in his embrace and sighed inwardly.

Everything was perfect.


End file.
